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Bruno blinked his eyes open. He was staring at a strange ceiling with a strange feeling coursing through him. The ceiling was dark, along with the room he was in. It wasn't part of Casita, or any other room he'd been in as far as he could remember.
He felt something shift next to him, and he looked to his right to see... a woman.
A naked woman.
Suddenly the last night came back to him. He felt himself go completely still. He hadn't drunk... that much at Dolores's party... had he? He certainly hadn't drunk enough for a random woman to lead him to her house and... and...
His mother was going to murder him if she ever found out. He would never be allowed to go back to church. He was going to be thrown out. He was going to be... he was going to be...
The woman's eyes opened. She had a small smile on her face, and Bruno thought it looked rather... sweet. He focused on her smile. He didn't want to focus on anything else. She turned her head towards him, and he felt his heart drop into his stomach as her eyes widened in pure terror.
The strange woman's face filled with disgust. Bruno watched her move faster than he had ever seen a person move... as far away from him as she possibly could. She wrapped the only blanket they had tightly around herself, her free hand clasped around her mouth.
She looked about ready to throw up, and Bruno honestly felt about the same.
“Dios Mio...” she whispered. “No... No... Not with him... Why him?” Bruno stared at her, who squeezed her eyes shut and began praying out loud. He only caught a few snippets of her words, mostly consisting of begging for forgiveness.
“Wait...” he said as she turned to flee the room. He stood up and started to follow her, but she threw his ruana towards him. “No!” she yelled, and Bruno found himself stuck in one place, unable to give any further pursuit as she started crying. “No! Don't follow me! Don't... Ugh! I hate you!”
He felt disgusting. The one time... he had been desperate... he was... he was terrible. He watched the one chance he had running away. The one chance at that happy future he was always promising himself.
He got dressed, feeling the grossest he had ever felt. He cursed himself the entire time. He was an idiot. He was thirty-four years old for crying out loud! He should know better. That was why his mother would never... never ever... find out about this. No one had to know.
But Dios. It stung.
He didn't see his mystery woman again. Not until he was dragged into town by his sisters. Once a month Julieta, Pepa, and Felix, all ganged up on Bruno to drag him out of the house. And, since it had been a month since Dolores's gift ceremony, and the last time Bruno had left the house, they dragged him out into the streets with them.
He just wanted to be at home. In his tower. With his rats. And pretend that he had never had... that... with anyone. He just wanted to pretend like he didn't exist. That he was the invisible member of the family.
Of course, as soon as he got into town he saw her. The woman he had never even learned the name of. She was pretty. With long brown hair and brown eyes. He wanted to avoid her. He wanted to stay away. But, of course, she was in line for Julieta's cooking. And there was Bruno, unable to leave his sister's side without getting hit in the head with a rolling pin.
When she got to Julieta's table she made eye contact with Bruno. And as soon as she did she dropped it back to the ground. Julieta didn't seem to notice, but she did ask if maybe there was something else wrong with her.
It was her fifth time that week coming to Julieta's table. For the same... stomach... symptoms... Bruno felt his heart seize up. No... This couldn't be.... Not like this! Not like this!
The two of them made eye contact again, and this time she didn't break it. She stared at him with a look of sheer and utter terror. He wanted to reach out a hand, offer a prophecy to make sure... it wouldn't be his first time... But instead he remained silent. Staring at the mother of his unborn child.
If his sister noticed, she didn't say anything.
They didn't do many funerals in the Encanto. There weren't that many older people in their community, and most of the time Julieta could heal whatever injuries anyone gained.
So it was quite a surprise when the daughter of one of the local seamstresses was found drowned in the river.
What was worse was she was obviously pregnant.
Bruno went completely silent. He locked himself in his tower, and absolutely refused to leave. His doorknob was jammed, and not even Alma could get Casita to open it. Days since the discovery of the dead body passed, and Bruno wasn't seen. Dolores couldn't even hear him, and that was what made them even more worried. They couldn't have a second funeral so close to the first.
It took a week and a half, but finally Julieta convinced Casita to let just herself inside. She brought with her a light soup, knowing that it wouldn't be good for her brother to eat something harder on the stomach.
She was shocked to see how high Bruno's stairs had gotten. The outside tower hadn't changed in the slightest, but inside it had to be at least a third bigger. She steadied her resolve, and began her accent to her brother's room.
She found him in his vision cave, piles of visions surrounding him. She set the platter of food down and crossed over to him.
Bruno was silent, sitting cross-legged on the floor, a vision tablet in his hands. He wasn't crying, but it looked like he had been. Julieta sat down next to him and touched his arm gently.
“I told Casita not to let anyone in...” Bruno said darkly, and Julieta nodded. “I know...” she responded, staring at the tablet. “And I told Casita that it wouldn't do anyone good if you starved to death.”
Bruno sighed loudly, and turned to look at Julieta. His eyebags were even more prominent than usual, and his eyes had a bright green residue. He looked like he hadn't slept or showered in weeks, which was almost true. She stayed at his side motionless for a moment, staring into her triplet's eyes. Then she said softly, “You were the father... weren't you.”
Bruno stopped breathing for a moment. He stared at Julieta, and then nodded softly. Julieta gave him a sad look, then said, “Bruno... I'm...”
“She chose to die over being with me.” Bruno said darkly, looking down at his vision. “She chose to kill herself, and my daughter, over being with me. She killed my daughter! She murdered my daughter!”
Julieta felt her heart skip a beat. Bruno was gripping his tablet so hard that it was a miracle it hadn't snapped in half. She stared at her brother, who had tears starting to slip down his cheeks. She didn't know what to say.
She threw her arms around her triplet, who sat there in shock. After a minute Bruno's arms went up to wrap around Julieta's, and the two of them sat there in silence for a minute.
“Does Mamá know?” Bruno asked quietly, and Julieta let go of him. She stared at him, and then shook her head. Bruno sighed, and then stared at her with the saddest eyes Julieta had ever seen. “I'm a curse.” he said with absolute certainty.
Julieta stared at her brother in shock. “No!” she said, grabbing his shoulders and shaking him slightly. “You are not a curse. You are my brother. The best brother I have. And you are never a curse. You never have been one, and you never will be.”
Bruno looked at her hands, then asked quietly, “Then why did she die?”
Julieta froze. She didn't have the answers. Not for the first time she wished that her food could heal emotional damage. “I don't know why she died... But it is not, and I repeat, not, your fault.” She stared intently at him and shook him slightly. “And if I ever catch you saying that, then I will force you into town with me again.”
Bruno nodded, and Julieta could tell that he didn't believe her. But now wasn't the time to change his beliefs. All she could do right then was be with him as he grieved.
So they sat there, on the floor, eating soup and just being with each other.
Three months passed, and Julieta was the only person that Bruno saw. All of the other family members tried to visit him, but his room never let them in. Twice a day Julieta would bring him food, and for the second meal she'd stay with him for at least an hour.
Bruno wasn't... better... not by a long shot. But he was appearing to be healthier. His stairs had started moving again. Which was good for Julieta. He was sleeping more, and making less visions. But he wasn't ready to leave his room.
Not until that day, three months in. When his life would change again.
This time when Julieta entered, he turned to look at her, and his eyes were drawn to her stomach... Julieta showed later into her pregnancy, and finally people were beginning to see the evidence of a new Madrigal.
Instead of his standard greeting Bruno simply said, “You're pregnant.” Julieta froze, her plate of empanadas held tighter in her hands.
“Yes...” Julieta said carefully, and Bruno's face fell. “You're pregnant...” he repeated, then he grabbed a vision from a pile next to him.
Julieta squeezed her eyes shut. She had wanted to keep it a secret from her brother for as long as possible. At least until it was easier for him to think about... about... the incident. She scanned her brother's face, which was searching the green glass grasped in his hands.
“Bruno? Are you okay?” she asked, moving to stand next to her brother. Bruno looked up at her, and then said in a worried voice, “But you're only supposed to have two! In all the visions you have two!”
She stared in shock at her brother, who grabbed more visions. She realized with a sudden jerk that all of the visions were exactly the same. He'd been looking at one point of time. The same vision.
She sat down slowly next to him, and replaced her plate of empanadas with a vision tablet. She stared at the representation of her and her siblings, each with children next to them. Pepa with three, herself with two, and Bruno with one. No wonder he'd been...
“It hasn't changed... why hasn't it changed?!” Bruno shouted. He looked up at Julieta, who felt her blood run cold. Without thinking her hand went to her stomach, where she knew her baby was. Bruno was frantic. He stood up suddenly, one of the tablets grasped in his hands firmly. Julieta stared at him as he began to pace back and forth.
“This can't be... no... My visions are never wrong! No! No! No... no... no... no...” Bruno looked at her, his eyes filled with tears. “Julieta... I don't know what's... what's...”
Julieta stared at him, and then looked down at her stomach. No amount of healing food could fix this. She looked back up at her brother, who extended a hand out towards her.
“Julieta,” he said, with a determination that she had never heard a single person contain inside of them. “I'm going to watch over you. I won't let anything happen to... to... to Mirabel.”
Julieta blinked at Bruno, and then let him help her stand up. “Mirabel?” she asked, and her brother nodded. “That's her name.” he said with absolute certainty. “That's the name I chose for... for... for my own... That was going to be her name.”
Any other name that had bounced around Julieta's brain was instantly replaced by Mirabel. How could she name her anything else? Even though she had no idea what gender her child was she knew that Mirabel was the name she wanted to give to her.
When Mirabel was born Bruno was the third person to hold her. She was tiny, and she fit snug inside his arms. The love that Bruno showed towards her was one that Julieta had never seen before.
So years later, when her brother told her that Mirabel was in danger, she had no doubts that he would keep her safe.
Because Mirabel was his. She had always been his. She had just been lent to Julieta for a little while.