Chapter Text
It had been an exhausting night for everyone, the night of Mirabel’s gift ceremony. What should have been a night of excitement and partying became a sea of confused voices from the townsfolk and concern from the Madrigals. Casita had quickly ushered the town out her walls and back out into the town as Luisa scrambled to get everyone their donkeys and carts, while the storm Pepa had stirred up in the fuss soaked the village to its core.
Agustin and Julieta had ushered Mirabel into their room where they were frantically trying to soothe their rightfully upset and afraid daughter. Felix and Pepa had likewise disappeared into their room to settle her nerves and hopefully stop the downpour before it turned into a hurricane. Abuela had spirited Bruno away to her quarters, leaving the rest of the Madrigal children in the casita courtyard unattended.
A sopping wet Luisa stepped into the courtyard, wringing out her dress hem and trying to ignore the mud stains that she knew she’d be helping her mother scrub out over the weekend. She looked to Isabela and Dolores both being at the respectable age of eleven which meant that with the absence of the grown-ups were now the de-facto heads of the house.
“Does this mean we’re all going to lose our gifts?” Camilo asked, “ I just got mine two months ago, it would really suck to lose it.”
Isabela looked to Dolores, Camilo was her younger brother after all and Isa did not want to be responsible for upsetting him any more than Dolores would be about upsetting Luisa.
“No one is losing their gifts hermanito,” Dolores began. “The candle would have to go out for that to happen and that’s impossible.” At least, she hoped it was impossible, after all they wouldn’t be the amazing Madrigals if they had no magic candle. No one in the family had seen anything like this before.
“Does this mean Casita hates Mirabel?” Luisa asked. At nine years old she could think a little more rationally than Camilo but even still she was looking for answers to an impossible question.
“No, Luisa of course not. Casita doesn’t hate anyone, it’s our home,” Isabela said as she scooped Luisa up into a hug despite knowing that her sister could easily scoop her up much the same. The silence that had fallen now that no one was speaking was a bit unnerving, Casita was never silent except for when the Madrigals were out in town or fast asleep. Isa turned to Dolores who squeaked knowing what her cousin was about to ask her almost as if to tell her not to.
Camilo on the other hand did not get the subtleties of his older sister's behavior just yet.
“Dolores, what are the grown-ups doing?”
With the can of worms now open Dolores looked between her two cousins and her brother realizing that all three of them were glued to her. Of course Dolores could hear what the grown ups were saying. She could hear everything and everyone in the Encanto; it took a great deal of focus to decide what she did and did not want to hear, more often than not though, she heard it all.
Dolores took a deep breath and the upper level of the Casita sprung to life in her head. “Mamá and Papí are still talking in their bedroom,” she was going to turn her attention to Tia Julieta’s room next but stopped when another conversation caught her ear instead.
“Abuela has asked Tío Bruno to have a vision. He’s headed to his room now.” She left out how she could hear her Tío’s heart pounding like a drum and the slowness in his steps so unlike how he usually carried himself down the halls. Tío Bruno had become more reclusive over the years as more children filled Casita’s walls, she could pinpoint this change to the day she and Isabela had begged him for a vision only to regret it in the end. Even still it was unlike him to try and avoid a task Abuela had given him and that only worried Dolores all the more.
“I thought Tío Bruno didn’t give the family visions anymore?” Camilo asked, tilting his head to look at his sister like a toucan who had seen a particularly interesting fruit.
“He doesn’t,” Dolores agreed. They had been told by the adults that it was in part because having too many visions in a short period of time exhausted their Tio and that he needed to save them for the people of the town. “ Abuela is different though. Like how when Mama asks you to do something and not to question her.”
Camilo nodded and Dolores was relieved. She looked back over to Isa and Luisa who were passing the time picking petals off flowers Isa had sprouted. “I think we should take Camilo up to his room, it’s getting late..”
“Oh come on Dolores, I’m not even tired.” Camilo protested.
“I don’t care. I don't want Mami and Papi yelling at me because you were too stubborn to go to bed,” Dolores reached to grab Camilo’s hand but just before she reached him he transformed into Jose, the space where his hand had been now empty air.
Dolores hissed in frustration as her brother took off around the courtyard. Isabela and Luisa tailed after her as they tried to track down their younger cousin. The game of cat and mouse came to an end in the sunroom when Isabela finally managed to slow Camilo down with her vines.
Luisa stepped forward and picked up her cousin to ensure he couldn’t break free again and the girls were all ready to walk back out into the courtyard and take Camilo to his room when they were stopped in their tracks by a sound that didn’t need Dolores’ super-powered hearing to be heard. A door upstairs was flung open, the sounds of someone descending stairs gave it away as Tio Bruno’s door. She was certain though, that the others did not hear the dull thud of him clearly running straight into the wall at the bottom of his stairway before he scrambled back to his feet.
Dolores pulled Isabela behind the sofa, who in turn pulled Luisa and Camilo after her. The Madrigal children huddled up in their hiding place, Dolores and Isa cautiously peered around opposite ends of the couch into the open space of the courtyard that they could see from the sunroom as they heard their Tio stumble down Casita’s steps to the courtyard. Isabela slid back around the sofa to comfort Luisa and Camilo, but Dolores, she stayed locked in place and heard it all.
“Brunito? What is it? What did you see?” Abuela called as her door opened. The commotion brought out the rest of the adults as well. The children watched as each of their family members' shadows were cast along the far wall.
Bruno backed away as the family gathered around him, he looked at his mother and bit his lip. “I can’t- I can’t tell you.”
“¿Por qué no?” Abuela asked with concern rising in her voice.
“I just, I can’t. I can’t tell you what I saw in my vision and we should just leave it at that.”
Julieta stepped away from Agustin, towards her brother the way one might approach a stray that was cornered. “You don’t look so good, hermanito. Are you well?”
“I’m not drunk, Julieta,” Bruno said, there was a coldness to his voice that surprised her.
The eldest of the Madrigal triplets fought back a sigh. “Bruno, that’s not what I meant and you know it.”
“Ay Julieta look at the state of him,” Pepa fretted a cold wind gusting around her once more. “Mama, maybe we should just give him some space. It’s been a long tiring day for us all.”
“No. If something is wrong with our miracle, we need to know about it now.” Abuela insisted.
“Well you’re going to have to live with not knowing, because I won’t tell you.” Bruno persisted. “It’s my vision, I decide who needs to know and who doesn’t. I’ve decided no one needs to know.”
“Your gifts are supposed to help this family, you’re being selfish.” As Abuela spoke the doors of the casita shook as if the house itself was afraid of earning Abuela’s ire. Even then, the fire and determination did not leave Bruno’s eyes.
Felix, who had used the fact that Bruno’s attention was thoroughly on his sisters and mother, had snuck around behind him and used the fact that his forearms were about twice the size of the seer's waist to scoop up his brother-in-law.
“Look hermano, you’re looking rough around the edges. Why don’t you listen to your older sisters and just sleep on it, you’ll feel better in the morning.” Felix promised.
Bruno on the other hand seemed to disagree, he squirmed in Felix’s grip like a fish plucked out of the water. If Felix didn’t have his arms pinned it was likely that he’d be trying to claw him like a feral cat.
“Felix! Put him down, you're going to hurt him.” Agustin said as he rushed to the other man's side, careful to stay out of striking distance as Bruno continued to flail against the hold he was in.
“He’s going to hurt himself if I let him go,” Felix protested. While Agustin couldn’t argue with that, it still wasn’t fair to keep someone constrained against their will, especially someone as fragile and sensitive as Bruno.
“Felix,” Julieta said in a calm, even voice, the voice she used when one of the children were doing something they shouldn’t. “Please put my hermanito down.”
Felix shrugged and gingerly set Bruno back down in front of him. The seer continued to look forward in a thousand-yard stare as his lungs struggled to take in the normal amount of air now that he wasn’t being squished by the larger man.
Bruno shook his head, his dark curly bangs obscured his eyes and seemed to snap him back to reality. “Alright, alright. Mamá, I can see that I don’t have any other choice.”
Abuela exhaled, pleased that her son seemed to have finally come to his senses.
“I have to leave.” He said bluntly. After the words left his mouth the courtyard erupted into a cacophony of Pepa’s thunder and everyone talking over each other. Perhaps most concerning of all was the clattering of the floor tiles as Casita itself seemed angry at what was happening.
“Let’s not be hasty,” Agustin said calmly. He usually could talk Bruno down when he was worked up like this.
“Listen to Agustin hijo.” Abuela urged, the fire still in her voice. “After everything you’ve said tonight if you leave this house you’re dead to me.”
The look that flashed across Bruno’s face was a mix of sadness and anger. He looked at each of the gathered family members before his gaze fell on Abuela. “I wish I was dead.”
A lightning strike hit the ground behind Pepa and in the chaos of making sure Casita was not on fire no one noticed that Bruno had disappeared into thin air.
The Madrigal children had also taken advantage of the chaos to slink back upstairs unnoticed by their parents. Luisa had Isabela’s hand in a vice grip as she looked across the hallway to where Dolores stood with Camilo at her side. They wordlessly agreed that they wouldn’t speak of what they’d seen as they made their way back into their rooms to try and forget about the overly stressful day they’d had.
Dolores however could not forget. Not as she heard the walls of Casita shift and create a new space. She heard the sounds of someone leaning up against the wall in the newly created space, panting to catch their breath.
“Gracias Casita, gracias.”
“Tío Bruno?” She wondered as she recognized the voice. Hadn’t he just left though? Why was he in the walls now? She didn’t know what to do with this information. She felt like she should go tell her mom.
“Dolores?” The voice of her Tío was clearer now, she wondered if the walls between the newly created space and her room were thinner, or if she was just louder than she thought.
“I know you can hear me.” Oh, she thought. That was a relief, he hadn’t heard her but he knew that she could hear him.
“Look sobrina, you can’t tell the family I’m still here. You have to trust me, just, just tell yourself this is all a dream and soon enough you’ll probably believe it.”
Dolores wanted to protest but it wasn’t like he would hear her. She knew that her mamá likely wouldn’t believe her if she told her anyway. If Tío Bruno really wasn’t going to come back then they’d think she’d made it up to cope with the fact her uncle had just disappeared from her life. She wasn’t great at keeping secrets, especially since there were no secrets she didn’t hear, but this time she would try her hardest to keep it.