Chapter Text
Antonio dropped down from his hammock, Dolores promptly following behind him. On her way down, she grabbed the empty glass of water. The tiger plushie that Mirabel had made for Antonio was poorly fit into his pocket causing it to almost fall out as he hit the ground, to which he responded by attempting to stuff the plush deeper into his pocket.
Antonio led the pair of them down the hill, taking the long way around to make sure once he got to Tío Bruno's room, maybe his face would look so puffy, or maybe the red in his eyes would have faded a bit. He lifted a sleeve to wipe his face one more time, before extending his hand under the waterfall to splash a handful of the icy water onto his face.
Suddenly, in motivation to lighten the mood, an idea hit the younger of the two.
A small grin formed on his face as he turned around to Dolores following behind him,
“Hey, what do you think of the waterfall?” He asked in barely a whisper, mainly because his throat was still tight and partly due to her sensitive hearing.
“Loud.” She responded absent-mindedly, but her focus returned and a small squeak escaped her lips, “I mean, it's loud, but I don't exactly mind too much. It's very pretty, and I-” She was soon cut off by her own gasp as she was met with a faceful of water.
Antonio picked up the pace to put some distance between him and Dolores with a giggle, it only took Dolores a moment to recover from the small shock and began to give chase. She held the glass out under the waterfall to collect as much water as possible before she got her revenge.
The two reached a much more open clearing, to which Antonio made a bolt for his door, with Dolores right on his heels.
He swung open the door without much time to close it behind him, and ran past a couple of his cousins' doors, before deciding to hide in Tío Bruno's room. He tripped up the stairs to the room, latching onto the handle to be the only thing stopping him from face planting straight into the door. Giving little consideration to how late in the night it probably was, he burst through the door and quickly shut it behind him, pressing up against it with his back.
One of the first things Antonio noticed was the subtle smell of lavender, covered by the overbearing scents of sand and stone, probably coming from a candle lit somewhere. Along with that, he noticed the indistinguishable muttering of the whispering rats and bugs that echoed off the walls. They had no specific location, they just kind of drifted through the air. It was a bit ominous, but a bit comforting in a strange way. It felt very homey.
Antonio realized this was the first time he had been in Bruno’s room since the magic returned, it would also make it the first time he had been in his Tio’s actual room ever, considering by the time he was born it was already a very stern rule that you weren’t allowed in the seer’s room.
However, purely based on what he was told before, it looked extremely different from what was described. It was still sandy, and there was that big stone hand pointing upwards with the message engraved on the palm, but it wasn't as barren and scary as everyone had told him. Not anymore, at least.
First of all, it had much better lighting than the dim room he had been told about. It looked much more like a living area, furnished with various plant vines and flowers that hugged the walls, giving them green accents that matched the shades on Bruno’s outfit, along with colorful bursts here and there.
Carved along the once blank walls was an intricate pattern with little symbols of hourglasses and what Antonio guessed to be sand mounds, along with other various decorations that looked to symbolize the rest of the family. Most predominantly there were carvings of various foods Tí
a Julieta would make, and designs that symbolize weather. They stretched along the entire curved wall, connecting to the back where they started. Vines tended to grow more heavily in the cracks, for some reason, it almost made Antonio wonder if Isabela had purposely put them there to make the seer’s room a bit more lively.
Antonio’s gaze wandered up, to see the number of stairs in Bruno's vision cave had decreased significantly, although the ceiling still extended upwards until it disappeared into never-ending darkness. Casita probably fixed that for him, it must've been a nightmare. How would a five-year-old even make the climb that was described in Mirabel's stories? For his own sake, Antonio just had to assume the steps grew with Bruno’s age and anxiety; it wasn't uncommon for Casita to mimic people's moods.
Finally, his eyes returned to the ground, and after a moment of looking, he realized he saw movement from just behind one of the chairs. Someone sitting down on the sandy floor, humming a soft tune; Antonio wasn't sure why he didn't hear it before. Maybe because they weren't humming before, or if they were just very quiet, and when he caught a glimpse of them it became more apparent.
After Antonio spotted a bit of that iconic green and ragged Ruana, he realized immediately who this strange person was; Bruno. Antonio didn't dare remove his station at the door, fearing if he made any attempt to move away from the door, Dolores would surely decide that was her time to strike —because heaven knows she definitely heard him come into this room.—
He leaned to the left a little, trying to get a better glance at whatever Bruno was doing. He noticed the seer was sitting on the floor, but it only helped a little considering their distance, but he was focused on something, focused enough not to have noticed the sound of his room being practically broken into at this hour.
A sudden knocking on the surface behind him made Antonio nearly jump out of his skin, along with receiving a startled yep from across the room by Bruno. Antonio bolted towards his Tío, trying to put the unwilling participant between him and the door in an attempt to hide.
“Hey! Careful!” the poor man jumped, reaching out an arm to separate Antonio from whatever he had been doing before he was interrupted.
It was then that Antonio got a better look at what Bruno was doing, with a few cups and a mound of sand it looked as if he was… building a sandcastle? At this time? He had always taken him for a strange man, but it was always a scary strange, the kind that was reminiscent of foggy forests at night. At least, until the recent event of the rats filling him in on what happened in the days before Bruno “left”.
“Antonio?” Bruno stuttered “Are you alright? What's going on?”
“Shh!” Antonio raised a finger to his lips, despite knowing full well no matter how low they kept their voices Dolores would still hear them, “Dolores, she's gonna kill me!” He whisper-yelled.
“What? Why?” Despite Antonio’s vague efforts at trying to explain, Bruno was just getting more confused with every passing whisper.
“I might have splashed her with water…?” Antonio gave a sheepish grin and hunched his shoulders, which was given a lighthearted sigh by Bruno as he pinched the brim of his nose.
“Why did you come here?” He questioned after a moment's pause.
“Well, actually, “here” was supposed to be the destination before this happened-” Antonio was cut off by a few more knocks, causing the two to jump again.
“... Miércoles..” The seer heard Antonio whisper, Which received a glance that mixed with concern and frustration from Bruno.
“Hey! Where’d you learn that???” his voice raised slightly at the beginning, before remembering their predicament. Antonio looked at Bruno in confusion,
“Tío Agustín, why? Is it bad? I thought it was just like oh no! He says it a lot.”
A tinge of amusement crept onto Bruno's previously worried expression.
Bruno squeezed an “Ay ay ay” in-between silenced chuckles, “Ask Agustin next time you see him, I'm sure he’ll be able to clear that up for you.”
Their little exchange was cut short by the door slowly creaking open, followed by Dolores’ head peeking around the corner. At the same time, Antonio dove behind him, using him as a sort of shield.
“Bruno? You haven't happened to see Antonio anywhere, have you?” she asked in her usual hushed tone, but the little smile plastered on her told Bruno she already knew exactly where he was, well, of course she did. She probably could hear Antonio holding his breath when his name was brought up.
“Oh yeah, he actually-” Bruno has been cut off by a sharp nudge in the back from his sobrino, “.. passed by and went to hide in Mirabel's room, which is where I suggest you go looking for him…!” He finished with a nervous laugh.
It was then it set in for Antonio just how much of a horrible liar his Tio was.
“So… you wouldn't mind me looking around your room for whoever you were just talking to, hm?” She raised an eyebrow, carefully walking into the doorway and shutting the door behind her. In her left hand, she held a glass nearly full to the brim with water. Aside from a thin trickle of water down the side, it looked as if she hadn't spilled it once, implying why she took so long to get there.
“Uh, well, you see-” Bruno tried to explain, but to no use. Dolores was already making her way to the two, Bruno glanced back at Antonio, seeing the younger one trying to reposition himself in a way he could run away again if need be.
“Who are you hiding there, Bruno?” Dolores was now less than a meter away, undoubtedly impatient to give a well-deserved face full of water to anyone at this point.
“No!” Bruno defensively put his hands up to protect his face, “I- I mean,” he quickly lowered them, “N-Noone! No one at all, heh.. Just me here, I think you should really check Mirabel’s room now, heh..”
Antonio decided if he was gonna run, he should do it now. Right before he was fully able to take off, he tripped over himself and went tumbling straight back into the unwilling new participant of this exchange, Bruno.
“There you are! I knew it!” Dolores exclaimed, swiftly dowsing Antonio in water, accidentally also getting Bruno soaked in the process.
“WH- Hey!” Bruno gasped, and several rats scurried out from under his Ruana, running off in various directions, one of them even resorting to hiding behind the makeshift sand castle Bruno had been building before Antonio showed up.
“Now we're even.” Dolores crossed her arms with a satisfied grin.
Now, Bruno wasn't usually petty. However, with his current energy, he couldn't help but loosen up a little. He reached into a pocket underneath his Ruana,
“No,” he pulled out a handful of salt and flicked it at Dolores’ face, she was able to close her eyes in the split second before it reached her, but her face contorted as she got a bit of it in her mouth.
“Now we're even.”
“Blegh-” Dolores responded, wiping her face off. Bruno picked a little more salt out of his shirt pocket and threw it over his shoulder; common tradition for after you “spill” salt, or in this case drop it anymore it's commonly not supposed to be.
Dolores bent down to where the two were sitting on the sandy floor, grabbing a fist of sand and flicking it at Bruno. “And that's for lying about hiding Anton-”
Before Dolores could finish her sentence, a soaked Antonio had grabbed some sand and flicked it right back at her, ducking behind Tío Bruno once again, using him as a sort of shield for any retaliation Dolores might have.
“Oh, no you don't-'' Bruno refuted, grabbing the animal whisperer from behind him and setting him next to his side, in much easier reach to Dolores.
Despite this, Dolores still “missed” the next throw of sand, landing right in Brunos' hair.
“Hey! He's right there!” Bruno gestured to Antonio.
“Whoops, sorry” Dolores responded with an amused tone.
Something about the whole exchange made Bruno simply feel good. It reminded him of old times, before the gifts controlled the triplets' lives. Petty but in the playful way, it was nice. When Bruno began to get that familiar distant look in his eyes, like he often did at breakfast with the rest of the Madrigals, Antonio knocked on his shoulder.
“Hello? Anyone in there?” It wasn't uncommon for any of his family members to do this when he began to space out, because it usually ended in a not so fond memory popping up and Bruno having to leave the rest of them early, and he was endlessly grateful for that.
“Yes, yes. I have a question, actually, about what you were saying earlier? You said that you planned on going into my room originally, what was that about?”
A silence fell over his sobrinos, and Bruno clenched a handful of his Ruana, beginning to fiddle with it. “Ah, sorry, sorry, I didn't mean to make you two uncomfortable at all…” He rushed out after a too-long moment of the awkward silence.
“No, it's just, we planned on checking up on you, is all.” Dolores finally responded, but there was something in her voice that gave it away to Bruno.
However, sometimes it's better not to dig.
“Check up on me? Well, I'm alright, I was just-” Suddenly, Bruno remembered what he had been doing before, “Right! Building this sandcastle!”
“At this time in the morning?” Inquired Antonio.
“Ah, well, it's sometimes a little rough telling apart real visions from nightmares and you just need a little break, you get it, right?” Bruno looked down and continued shaping the sandcastle as he continued. “But, thank you both. Very convenient timing.”
Dolores’ eyes softened, finally giving up on every instinct that told her not to get her dress all sandy and she kneeled on the ground next to her Tío and little brother.
“..Actually, Tío. There is something we need to talk about.” Began Dolores, she couldn't keep secrets even if at the time it would be better and easier for everyone if she had, and with something so serious, how could they all pretend it never happened?
Still, Antonio could feel himself wince at the sudden panic in Bruno’s eyes.
A guilty conscience can really gnaw at you, huh?
“Bruno,” Dolores paused, her gaze wandering off and up the stone stairs. How does one approach something like this?
“The rats told Antonio about what happened that night. The one where you… you know. Before the time in the walls, do you remember?”
Bruno took a moment, seeming to be racking his brain, but the horror that quickly crept onto his face in a blinding moment of realization gave away the exact moment he remembered.
“Oh- I- you didn’t, I mean. You did, but. How? Why..?” Their Tío started several different sentences, deciding to abandon ship after the first words on all of them. After a moment, he let his gaze peel away from the two, sinking to the floor. “I'm so sorry, mis sobrinitos. No one should have had to know that, especially someone so young…”
Brunos voice cut off with a choke, his nails digging into either of his arms to try and ward off tears.
Such a horrible memory.
He didn't need some fancy vision to see something like this, it spiraled around him, endlessly laughing at him. How foolish,
How young.
How stupid of him.
He couldn't stand to look in the mirror after that, his own failure of an image haunted him.
It still does,
He knew he saw no one but that child inside.
No, not here, not now.
Not in front of these two, especially.
“You..” Bruno began in a wobbly voice, but cleared his throat and continued, “You two should go, I'm not the best right now and I think… I think you two shouldn't be around me while I'm like this.” He tried his best to keep confident in his words, but they were pricked with uncertainty and concern.
What if they told Pepa he let them see him like… this?
He felt the bird in his chest begin to thrash around in a panic, slamming itself into every iron bar of its cage; trying to escape.
The electricity shook his body through his collarbones to his fingertips.
If he were standing he swore his legs would have buckled, as it felt they went numb.
He heard a faint calling in the background, but the ringing got louder and it wouldn't stop growing until it swallowed him whole.
He dropped his hands to the floor for extra support to stop himself from falling over into the sand, and the hand laid upon his shoulder felt so far away…
He could hear them conversing, but the words were jumbled and meaningless. They were simply the reminder, the vice around his throat, of what they knew.
The feeling only worsened the memory.
Dolores rested his hand on his shoulder, quickly realizing what was going on, a feeling she wasn't too unfamiliar with herself.
“Casita..!” She whisper-yelled, to which it responded by swaying the door a little. “Please get us a cold cup of water and a rag, will you?” the tiles flapped a bit, and that part of their Casita went still, implying it had gone off to complete the chore.
“Dolores? What's going on? Will he be okay?” Antonio hurried out, gaze rapidly switching between her and Bruno, who was hurled over and unresponsive to their words.
“He's panicking, I presume, he’ll be okay. I'm just guessing it was sudden and a lot, especially on a bad night. Like when there's too much noise, or the lights are too bright.” Dolores lifted a finger to her lips, “try and whisper, okay? Yelling will just give him a headache, and the noise could worsen it, and he doesn't need that right now,”
Dolores turned her head as she heard the door creak open, a glass of water and a rag awaiting at its foot.
“Antonio, could you go and get that for Bruno?”
He nodded and went off to grab it, to which Dolores had refocused her attention to Bruno.
His breath had steadied a bit, and she discovered his pulse had a bit too as she listened for a moment.
Antonio's heart on the other hand was racing, whether he was a small child or not, no one's heart should be going that quick. Had he never witnessed something like this before, or was it just foreign for him to see an adult going through something he considered to only be for illogical children?
Had he never seen an adult cry before?
Mamá was always one to cover her emotions for the sake of Abuela, and even long after the family was brought back together by Mirabel, those forty-something years don't just go away. It's still difficult for Pepa to let herself cry, especially in front of her children.
That would seem to explain it.
Antonio returned with the water, and after a moment of not knowing what to do with it, handed it to Dolores.
“Tio Bruno?” Dolores asked in a soft, delicate tone, “Antonio and I have some water for you.” She set the glass in front of him, placed securely in the sand with a small twist. It took a moment for the recognition to leek back into their Tios eyes, but even when it did and he attempted reaching for the glass, his hand was too shaky to properly lift it.
To this, Dolores responded by wrapping her hand around his, guiding his hand back to the glass, and following through by helping him carry it to his lips.
Antonio watched the moment in silence, fidgeting with his hands as he wondered about the outcome of tonight. Will Bruno be okay? He has to be, right?
Dolores helped Bruno set the glass back down into the sand, and he gave her a small nod and he put up a finger as a way to say “one moment please.” She turned her gaze back to Antonio, with a small smile on her face, “he’ll be okay, I promise, Tonito.”
“Are you sure..?” he asked in a low voice.
“Positivo.”
They all sat there for a minute or two in silence, but it was a comforting type of silence. A type of silence that promised recovery, and symbolized a period of peace.
“I..” a weak voice began, after a moment of looking, it seemed to have come from Bruno, “Thank you, both of you, I'm sorry about—” Bruno was cut off, and wrapped into a tight hug by Antonio.
There was a moment of silence, and Bruno would be lying if he said he hadn't flinched a bit.
Ten years in the walls without any human contact makes you forget how much you truly miss it, and it was like a shockwave when he first came back. It still felt foreign to him, still felt new, but that didn't mean he didn't appreciate it more than language can describe.
“You have nothing to be sorry for.'' The words that left his sobrino’s mouth were so simple, yet they didn't fail to bring a couple tears back to his eyes. Antonio pulled back a little, worried he had done something wrong.
“No, no, you're okay,” Bruno used his sleeves to wipe at his face, “they are happy tears, I’m so fortunate to have both of you in my life.” Bruno wrapped his arms around Antonio, returning the hug.
“We're lucky to still have you, Tío,” Dolores responded from a little off to the side, as much as she’d like to share the hug, physical contact and her finely attuned hearing didn't mix all that well. Sure it'd be fine if she had her noise-canceling headphones on, but she didn't, so she’d have to stay out this time.
Bruno broke away from Antonio, and began messing with his sleeves again, “You guys… you guys won't tell the rest of la familia about this, right..?”
Dolores paused, and glanced down. “I’ll try, and I'm sure Antonio is great at keeping secrets but promise us one thing, Tío.”
Bruno nodded, and listened with wide eyes at Dolores’ next words.
“Promise us you’ll tell your sisters, and maybe even Abuela. You need someone to talk to, and the kids don't have to know. It's not healthy to keep something like that all to yourself, but I'm sure you know that. You need people to support you, people who can actually help, okay?”
Bruno paused, and glanced back towards his sandcastle.
“Promise me, Tío Bruno.” Dolores' voice was warm and gentle, but firm and insistent.
“Alright, fine, I will. I promise. It's just… I need to think of how. I never—” Bruno took a deep breath, holding it for a second, and letting it go. “I never thought I'd have to tell anyone, is all. I’m honestly, I don't know how they'll react, you know?”
Dolores gave a small nod and a breath of relief. “Good, and I'm sure they won't be mad or upset with you. It's just a process of healing, wrapping up the loose ends. Things are different now, it's not like it was before.”
“I know, I know. And I will, I just need a little more time.” Bruno finally lifted his gaze, with every passing word it became a little easier to talk, a little easier to get the words out.
“I’m proud of you for being able to talk about this with us, and I'm sure they will feel the same,” Dolores assured, to which Bruno gave a little smile in response. Despite Dolores’ reserved nature, she was surprisingly good at this, Antonio observed.
It made him wish they had spent more time together when he was younger,
But there's still time for that, isn't there?
Before they knew it, the three of them were laughing and joking again, and somehow ended up helping Bruno finish his sandcastle. At some point, Antonio's jaguar had wandered into the sandy room, and after about a solid ten minutes of the feline being complexed at the mere existence of sand, it had decided to sprawl out next to Antonio and go back to sleep.
Antonio eventually fell back onto the big cat “just to rest his eyes”, but it didn't take long for him to drift into sleep.
“...Dolores?”
“Yes, Bruno?”
“Promise me you'll keep watch over him, for everyone, he needs all the support he can get. Mirabel is great, but he also needs someone like you to keep him steady, okay? Make sure he stays safe.”
Dolores was slightly taken aback by this, but her eyes softened, “Bruno, you're gonna have to step in for that too, you finally are getting your chance to be a proper Tio to Antonio, and so far you've done great.”
“I know,” Bruno placed a hand onto the back of his neck, “But you're his hermana, and he deserves to especially have you by his side,” with a small laugh, he added, “Plus, you need to make sure Camilo isn't so quick to drag him into their influence. If it's one thing this family could go without, it's more chaos.”
“I don't know, it's a bit charming, maybe more chaos is just what we need,” Dolores responded with a mischievous grin, which seemed out of character for her, or maybe Camilo had gotten their habits from somewhere that wasn't Mirabel.
“Ay, no way. I think I'd go insane—” Amusement tinted his voice, but they both knew fair well Bruno had gotten along very well with Camilo right off the bat, the two mainly bonding over their love for theater-like activities, Bruno himself had even been wrapped once or twice into the troublemaker's pranks.
They fell into silence once more, which led to Bruno yawning and leaning back onto the jaguar next to Antonio. “Maybe we should get some sleep… It's getting…. Late….” Brunos words drifted off, and almost in the same moment, he was swept away by his dreariness.
Seems falling asleep quickly ran in the family, or maybe it was the fact that the sun probably was rising right about now.
Dolores contemplated running to her room to grab her earplugs, but when she tried to get up it finally hit her how exhausted she was, and she too was quick to take what surface area was left of the jaguar as a pillow.
-
Dolores opened her sleep heavy eyes, woken involuntarily by some noise going on outside. It sounded like a bit of a panic, coming from Pepa and Camilo. Before focusing in on their words, Dolores heard Felix still snoring… and Julieta comforting Pepa…
Dolores blinked a couple times and jumped a little of the change of scenery from what she was used to waking up to. Then, last night came back to her, and it all made sense as she began to listen in on their conversations,
“I can't find them anywhere! Camilo, I swear if this is some kind of joke,” The voice was cut off by an ear-splitting thunder which seemed to echo off the walls of Bruno's room.
“Mamá!, I'm just as confused as you are, I promise!” Dolores heard the swish of Camilo's ruana, implying he had put his hands up in a “calm down” motion.
Dolores sighed, and dragged herself from the oddly comfortable “bed” of sand she had slept on. She made her way to the door, tiptoeing as to not wake up Antonio or Bruno, and slowly creaked the door open, to where she saw Pepa and Camilo arguing on the floor below the rooms.
“Mamá! Camilo!” Dolores “shouted” in her usual whispery voice, “Were in Bruno's room, trying to sleep, will you please keep it down?”
Pepa and Camilo shared a confused glance at each other, but gave an understanding nod. Camilo opened his mouth —probably to ask a question regarding why— but before he could get it out Dolores had already turned and begun to leave.
She opened the door that led back to Bruno’s room, sitting back down on the sand by the two.
As she placed herself against the jaguar, she shifted her gaze over to Antonio and Bruno sitting by her,
They looked so peaceful
And it became apparent how easy to forget
How much they took being alive for granted.