Chapter Text
Antonio is a hard worker, he knows this, his abuela knows this, his mami and papi know this. However, there's something he’s noticed about how his family works. And that was brought to his attention solely by Luisa.
See, 10 years ago, when Antonio was only five Luisa lost her gift shortly after his prima Mirabel disappeared, and he means literally the same day she disappeared. When Luisa had her gift of super strength, she was always sought out by pretty much everyone in the Encanto at least once every three days. But when she lost her gift, Nobody looked for her help anymore. But since they still got things done, it seemed like they didn't really need it to begin with. So many of these factors sunk Luisa into a horrible depression. The loss of her sister, the loss of her power, the loss of feeling needed…
And Antonio didn't just notice Luisa. He saw every change when Mirabel left. He saw the look of fear on Isabelas face when she was getting married to Mariano. He saw the bittersweet expressions on both of his hermana y hermanos on their respective wedding days. The only one of the madrigal’s 3rd generation that seemed happy to be getting married was Luisa who was the only non-arranged marriage. Now this made his Abuela extremely smug too, she thought all her grandkids were happily married, she thought she was a pro matchmaker.
But she wasn’t, and Antonio noticed that his prima’s and hermans misery were rooted in the happiness of abuela. And this made Antonio bitter. He was angry, he may not remember much about Mira anymore, but he knew how sweet she was. He remembered his 5th birthday perfectly, though many of his other memories of her were blurred that didn't stop him from missing her.
“Tonito? estas bien?” A voice spoke up to him, Abuela’s voice..
Antonio raised his gaze to her, and smiled the smile he had carefully constructed over the years “Si, Abuela!” he said “Just thinking about how amazing Tia Julietta’s food is!” He’d exclaim, causing the table, which had 4 new spots, to laugh in agreement
“Ah! Antonio, I wanted to ask if you could watch Jose for me while I do my chores!” Camillo perked up, looking to Antonio
Jose was Camillo’s son, he was 2 years old and one of the sweetest kids Antonio had ever met. His mother, Catalina was pregnant with she and Camillo's second baby, and was currently in bed rest until the baby was born.
“Ah, why what are you doing today? Cami?”
“Well, Senor Fernandez needed an extra one of his sons to help him fix the roof on his house. You could just set him aside and let him play with some birds, just don't let him run aw- AY!” Camillo was interrupted by his mother slapping his arm
“Don't leave Jose alone!” Pepa spoke, waving her fork at Antonio, warning her youngest.
“Miércoles..” Antonio mumbled, picking at his food. “Yeah I'll babysit.”
“Thankyou tonito!” Camillo spoke with a smile, The way he had changed was copying their Tio Augustine. Camillo was a talented actor, He had shaped a near perfect disguise modeled after the respectable, good natured, Augustine to please their Abuela. Of course, Antonio could see through this falscity just as he does everyone else’s
Abuela cleared her throat, drawing the attention of all the familia. “Yessenia, You're going to be accompanying me today.”
Yessenia was one of Luisa’s daughters. Luisa has a pair of identical twins, they were age 7, The older twin had telekinesis and the younger, Yessenia was able to make visual glass portraits of people's thoughts after reading them, aka she’s Telepathic.
Yessenia simply nodded to Abuela, she wasn't much of a talker
“Can I come to Abuela?” Estefania squealed, wanting to stay close to her sister.
Abuela exhaled with a tired smile. “Si, Si, You may come.” Abuela already knew, saying no to keeping the twins side by side would cause a tantrum from one of them (mostly Estefania)
Breakfast went on as per usual, and everyone went off to do their chores, and Antonio went off to fetch Jose from his bedridden mother.
Knocking on Camillo's door, and hearing Catalina respond with an exhausted “Come in!” he’d obey, entering the room.
“Ay, Catalina, how's your back?” Antonio asked, walking to the bed where she rested, Jose sat in a corner of the room, playing with blocks.
Catalina groaned, pulling her thick dirty blonde hair over her face “Antonio, Please get your jaguar to open my stomach, this baby is killing me” she’d mumble, clearly her back wasn't doing great.
“Well, That sounds lovely but I'm afraid they’d put her down if I did.” he’d say, sitting at the foot of her bed. “Camillo asked me to watch Jose today”
“He did? Ay, that husband of mine.” Catalina rolled her eyes “Thankyou Antonio, i'm sorry I can't be of more help”
“Nonsense, You're working hard just growing the miracle inside you.” Antonio smiled as he felt a tug on his pant leg, turning to find the little boy holding a chameleon plushie out to him. Nobody knew how Jose got that chameleon, but he was inseparable from it since it suddenly appeared in his crib when his 1st birthday rolled around.
“Ooh, mi chico fuerte!” Catalina called to her son “Are you excited to play with Tio Tonito today?” She’d say with a tired, but loving smile
The young boy, with strawberry blonde hair and tanned skin smiled to his mom “No!”
Catalina exhales “No? You mean si? Si?”
“Si!” Jose responded, holding his arms up to Antontio, who picked him up as requested.
Jose quickly reached back towards his mom, moving towards her and giving her a big old wet kiss on the lips “I love you!” He said, there weren't many things he could say, the things he could say weren't very clear, but he got his point across.
“I love you too, Mi vida” Catalina squealed, giving her baby a bunch of kisses back, tickling his stomach
Antonio laughed, picking up Jose “Alright, lets let mami rest now, Say bye bye!!”
Jose immediately began to cry “no!! No! No bye!” he’d say, reaching for his mom
Antonio turned, walking out of the room “Si, si, Say bye bye”
“No bye!”
Antonio kept walking, by the time he made it outside Casita, Jose was already calm with an arepa in hand.
As the two made it down the street, Antonio found himself growing an audience, an audience of animals and children.
“Antonio! Can we pet the jaguar!” A little girl yelled
“Sure.” Antonio spoke, continuing to walk as the children followed, petting the big cat as it followed close behind Antonio.
He hated this. He hated being constantly followed. He hated going to the village. He hated helping ungrateful people. He just wanted to be alone with his animals. He just wanted some Antonio time. This horrible feeling that boiled in Antonio's stomach acid was one he was all too familiar with, resentment and anger. He hated this feeling, He hated everything. Maybe it was the fact he was in the midst of puberty that he was so angry.
“Antonio! My brother wanted you to see what our kitty wanted to play today! Will you come see?” a young boy, who was the spitting image of the brother he was referring to. Antonio called him ‘coffee kid’ but everyone knew him as Juancho. But everyone (except Antonio) called him ‘Pumped Juancho.” Anywho, the brat bothering Antonio now was Juancho’s lookalike little brother Juan. How uncreative right?
“Yeah sure, I'll head over now.” Antonio closed his eyes for a second to hide the fact he was rolling them, turning to make his way to Juancho’s house, which wasn't all that far from the town square.
Eventually, he made it to the house with the chipped red door, and knocked, only to be shoved past by the child Juan, who opened the door “Come in come in!”
Antonio groaned internally, smiling as he stepped in “Hola, Senora.” He spoke to Juancho’s abuela, who sat in a wheelchair by the window. “Ooh, Tonito, come come!” she’d wave him over in her frail voice, grabbing his hands with a smile and a squeeze “What brings you?”
“Well, I'm here to talk to your cat, for Juancho.”
“Ahh si si, your so sweet Tonito” the old woman spoke, pinching his cheek and making him smile
Antonio kissed the back of the lady's hand, and stood, searching for Juancho’s whereabouts. Then eventually found him in his room, petting his cat and drinking coffee.
“Juancho, I hear you need help with Frizzles.” Frizzles was the cat’s name.
Juancho looked over, surprised and merely spitting out his coffee. “Ay! Dios mio!” he stood, frantically “That was a joke, jeez”
“A Joke?”
“Yeah, I told Juan I wondered what frizzles wanted to play today and he said ‘Antonio will know’ and I said ‘Oh yes he would’ I didn't mean for him to seek you out!”
Antonio smiled, masking his annoyance “Ah, so a simple misunderstanding! Alright then i'll be going.” he said, turning to leave
“Ah! Wait, toni!”
Antonio was taken back by the nickname, but turned to the coffee addict.
“Me and the girls are going to hang out today, would you like to come?”
“The girls?”
“Cecelia and Alejandra of course!”
Oh of course, Ever since those three were little they’ve been hanging out.
“Im sorry, Abuela will be upset if I ignore my chores” Antonio said, with his masking smile
Juancho smiled, his eyes squinting as he did so. “Toni, Aren't you tired? We were gonna go into the woods for a bit, they wouldn't see you and it's not like Senora Dolores will tattle on you for taking a much needed break”
Antonio blinked, Never had he wanted to lie to his familia more in his entire life. But alas, a good kid Antonio was despite not wanting to be.
“I'm sorry, Juancho, I'm babysitting anyways and I really need to do some chores” Antonio said with a big fake smile.
Juancho smiled back, giving a light punch to the other's arm “Dont worry about it, You're good! We’re always able to hang out, and hey! If you change your mind we’ll be there!”
Antonio turned, Jose in his arms he left the house, unhappy. He was always so angry, he wanted to play too, he wanted to have a bunch of friends, he wanted to have a girlfriend and be popular. But no, he was forced to exploit his gift for the sake of people who didn't care about him. And in doing so, these strangers force him to avoid ever making friends too. And knowing this made Antonios blood boil, it made him want to hide under his bed and talk to Mirabel like he used to do when he was scared and nervous.
Sighing, Antonio whispered “clear skies.. clear skies…” and looked up. “Clear skies…” and yes, he saw clear skies, yet he heard rumbling… Mami was probably riling herself up to help someone water plants. He hoped Dolores' ears weren't hurting too bad… At least Papi will be there to calm mami down as soon as she is done… Antonio smiled, thinking about his parents. Sure, they weren't perfect. But he truly believed they were meant to be.
The rest of the morning went on as per usual for Antonio, He went around town followed by his shadow of animals and communicated with the encanto’s farm animals. When he heard Luisa's powerful voice boom from the townsquare
“Lunch is ready, Madrigals!!” echoed through the encanto, Luisa was a force to be reckoned with despite not having a gift anymore. She was still super(just not as) strong. And she was still (just not as since her pregnancy) muscular. She worked hard to be just those things. He respected her and sighed with relief, turning and running towards his home, his nephew riding on top his shoulders screaming with excitement.
When he entered the house, he looked around and saw the bustling of his family members, each grabbing whatever, even though Tia Julietta wasn't even done setting the lunch buffet…
“Tia! Let me help you!” Antonio said, setting Jose down “go too daddy” he’d say, to which Jose would run, screaming and laughing, Antonio quickly took both of the platters his Tia was carrying and set them on the buffet table. “Tia, You go sit, i'll grab the rest!” Antonio said with a smile.
Julietta exhaled, pinching her nephew on the cheek “ay, mi sobrino, You're so sweet, just like my Mir-” she quickly stopped herself, looking to Abuela to see if she had caught her, and letting herself breathe once she knew Abuela hadn't heard.
Antonio smiled “I know, Tia, I know” He’d smile, turning to the kitchen to grab the rest of the food.
Once inside, he’d look at the steaming bowls of carimañola's and chontaduros. He freakin’ loved chontaduros. Antonio turned, looking for some oven mitts. It took him a good 30 seconds to locate them, but he did, and quickly, he grabbed the two dishes to bring to the table.
Antonio glanced down at the food he was carrying. He couldn’t help but feel like there were less than before…. He rolled his eyes, Camillo’s been awfully sneaky. He set the food down, sitting next to Isabela and Dolores.
Isabela kind of creeped him out, Ever since she married, she’s been a lot less… Irritable? It's like she’s frozen all the time. Despite looking tired, she still smiles and does everything perfectly. It was… Unsettling to Antonio, but no other seats were open… He wanted to sit next to Mirabel. He thinks about her a lot. Is she alive? Did she leave on purpose? Was she kidnapped? Did she do something bad? Sighing, he looked up, looking to Abuela who was currently whipping some guacamole off of Yessenia’s cheek. Of the newest generation of Madrigals, Yessenia was most definitely Abuelas newest golden child. The one who can hear your thoughts. Course she’s just a kid. Unlike Dolores, she can't particularly focus on a single person's thoughts at a time like Dolores could with her hearing, and Yessenia didn't have the range Dolores did. Antonio ran his eye’s along his family members, taking note of each one. ‘Catalina, Dolores, Me, Isabela, Luisa, then Diego, at the end is Julietta… then the opposite side is the other side. Mami, then Papi, Tio Augustine, then Jose, then Camillo, then Estefania, then Yessenia, then Abuela who sat at the head. Antonio sighed, thinking about Mirabel again. A little about Tio bruno, but Antonio didnt ever meet him so he didn't really ‘miss’ him you know?
Abuela spoke up “Tonito, why are you sighing so much?”
Antonio froze, he had lost his appetite thinking about Mira so much today, he was all bummed, but they wouldn't just let him so without eating…. Unless.
“Abuela..?”
“Si, Mi vida?”
Antonio would sweat, feeling nauseous at the sight of the food in front of him “...Where do you think Mirabel went.”
The room went silent aside from some forks dropping, a few silent murmurs, and the sound of his mami’s thundering.
“We don’t talk about Mirabel.” Abuela snapped back, pointing her fork to Antonio
“Yeah yeah but… what if she’s hurt? What if she hasn’t been eating properly? What if she’s-“
Félix budded in “Antonio, not now please.”
“We don’t talk about Mirabel!” Abuela shouted, slamming her fork on the table.
By then, Augustine and Julietta had moved to one another’s side, comforting one another. Luisa began to tear up, Isabela remained seated, smiling that plastered smile as she continued to eat while Mariano glanced around awkwardly. The children kept eating, and the rest of the room was just watching silently.
Antonio stood up, waving his hands as he spoke. His sweat made him look like he just got out of the shower. “Why am I the only one who’s worried? You guys don’t even talk about her anymore! She would never just le-“
Abuela stood, screaming “Silencio!! Go to your room, Now! You will not leave until you learn the rules!!”, the room falling silent once more. Not even the children kept eating… Antonio and Abuela stared at one another in silence, when the room began to fill with fog, to the point where he couldn’t even see his ‘beloved’ Abuela anymore. And he took this chance to leave, taking a mental note of his mami’s fear. His mother only fogged up when embarrassed, flustered, or scared. Now Antonio was guessing she was flustered or embarrassed, even though he was scared and despite not being able to see he made his way through Casita with ease. After all it is his home, he’s always been here. Eventually he made it into his room, running inside and flopping into his bed and grabbing his homemade tiger plushie. It’s stuffing had become chunky, and it’s stitches were loose from t8me passing, no one of the girls were willing to fix it or teach him how to sew in order to fix it on his own, and it was all he had left of his long lost prima. Tears welled up in his eyes, frustration burning his skin and sinking to his chest. His body felt on fire with rage, and his dear animals had picked up on this, growing restless and protective in correspondence to his growing rage, only getting worse when they heard a knock on the door.
“Antonio?” A familiar voice called, it was none other than his sister-in-law Catalina.
Antonio’s heart jumped, quickly running to the door, opening it and staring at her “why are you up?” You should still be in bed…” he spoke, mumbling in annoyance, and concern.
“Ay, Siempre preocupado! You and your brother both!” She rolled her eyes, walking straight in without a care. “Oh, I see you're unhappy” she’d say, seeing the angry animals around her.
Antonio said nothing as the woman invaded his space with a smile, taking his bed.
Catalina exhaled with relief as the bed creaked “dios mio...” She groaned, looking at Antonio “Your Hermano told me what happened…”
He again said nothing.
“About your prima, do you want to tell me about her?”
“What?”
“Do you want to vent, you clearly miss her, and it’s picking at you…”
“…I don’t want to talk about it with you.” Antonio glared, going to his desk, squatting onto his chair.
“Who do you want to speak to then?”
“I want Abuela to listen! Mirabel is probably dead!” He’d yell, covering his face in his knees
“Oh Antonio…”
Antonio exhaled, raising his head once more. “Please, just go… just go please…” he’d whisper, shaking his head.
“Si…” Catalina struggled, sitting up and walked over to Antonio giving him a kiss on the side of his forehead and walking to the door.
“Go back to your bed, you're still on bed rest!” He’d yell to her
“Siii, siii!” She called back.
Antonio exhaled, going to his bed, curling up again, crying himself to sleep.
When he awoke, he left his room and found Casita dark, the lights were out and the sun had set. Walking down the stairs, silent as air he made his way to the dining room. Everything was perfectly cleaned and empty… running his hand along the dining table, he rose his head towards the woods, entranced as he thought about the fun Juancho and the girls had. But this trance was quickly broken by the sudden shuffling of dishes within the kitchen. Rolling his eyes with a smile he walked towards the kitchen, intending to scare his brother, but once he started to sneak up behind the man in the kitchen, he stopped behind the island and stared him down silently as he realized this stranger was shorter than Camilo… papi? No, Papi doesn’t have a ruana… and Camillo hasn’t worn his in forever, and it is much less green… green… green… Antonio slowly backed away from the intruder, silent. Once he was back into the center of the house, he ran back up the stairs on all fours, to his mom and dad's room. Once at the top of the stairs, he stood properly and sped walked, too scared to make noise from running. Opening his parents door and running in, not even bothering to close the door.
His mother and fathers room was a bright one, instead of little feelings just affecting little clouds following her around the house, the entire room was affected by every emotion, not just a cloud by her head. And around her bed was a dome, protecting it from bad weather. Antonio opened the door to get inside the dome, rushing to his fathers side, shaking him awake.
“Pá, papi!” Antonio whisper screamed as he grew more and more frantic
Félix slowly awoke, groggy and a little annoyed by the rude awakening “Antonio…?” He’d mumble, still half asleep.
“Someone’s in the kitchen pá, an intruder” he’d whisper, starting to cry from fear.
“It’s just Camilo…” Felix groaned, rolling over and cuddling his sleeping wife.
“No, he was shorter, and wore a green ruana! Papa please just look!” He’d cry, his voice shaking.
Félix quickly woke up, now processing how scared his youngest was, quickly getting out of bed.
The two slowly, quietly made their way to the kitchen, Félix armed with an umbrella. Upon peeking into the kitchen, they indeed saw the man… Félix ran in, swinging the umbrella at the intruder, who was easily, and quickly able to move past out of the way. Running past him, directly towards Antonio.
Antonio screamed frantically, swinging his fist at the intruder, eyes wide.
The intruder just began to run past, moving a little to avoid the clumsy punches, making direct eye contact with him.
Antonio reached for him, successfully grabbing the intruder's crusty ass ruana, pulling and tearing it a bit, then tearing a piece off completely when the intruder lightly pushed him off, straight into the wall. Antonio would hit his head right into one of the unlit candle holders and cause him to fall with a loud thud.
Félix had run, following the stranger but quickly stopped, letting the intruder go when hearing his youngest grumble in pain.
Antontio held his head, having hit it hard. “Dios mio, papa-“ he’d cry holding his head, pulling his hand to his face, seeing blood and screaming bloody murder. “I’m bleeding, I’m bleeding!!” His hands started shaking as his papi helped him stand. Antonio was barely able to, his legs shaking badly.
Félix yelled “PEPA! Come quick!” Félixs voice was always able to reach pepa, always able to wake her. She was awake and on the balcony just as fast as Dolores was, who was also awoken by her fathers yell.
“What happened?!” Pepa ran down to her baby’s side.
Dolores was already running to get Julietta, hearing blood dripping from Antonio’s head. Storm clouds quickly filled the casita.
Antonio sobbed, hugging his mother as his father explained what happened. Eventually, the commotion had awoken almost everyone including Abuela. Who quickly took hold of the situation, able to control it with ease. But of course, Julietta can only cook so fast, not fast enough for Antonio to lose consciousness. As his eyes slowly fluttered shut, he could’ve sworn he saw cracks in the walls behind Abuela.
————————
When Antonio woke up again slowly, feeling his face wet. And the soft rumbling of his mother’s clouds, he found himself in the beginning nook of his room, on his bed with his mother lying beside him, hugging him with shaking hands, her head resting on his shoulder as she inspected his hands, his father reading on one of his chairs.
Antonio groaned, drawing both their attention and bodies towering towards him, his mother began covering his face with kisses. “Oh my baby, are you okay-“ she’d cry, not even giving him a chance to respond before getting another worried kiss.
“Pepa, amora, your gonna get him all wet..” félix smiled, waving her cloud away as he sat at his sons side, next to Pepa.
Julietta quickly entered the room with an arepa in hand, followed by Dolores and Camilo.
Antonio ate the arepa, his mummified head healing quick as ever. “Gracias, tia”
“What happened, mi sobrino?” Julietta asked, worried.
“I saw someone broke into the kitchen, then I got papí and.. he chased him off..” Antonio murmured, rubbing his eyes. He felt overwhelmed, so many people were in his room.
“I accidentally tore some of his clothes, and… ugh-“ he shook his head “god, I should’ve done more…” he’d grumble “I wasn’t able to do anything…”
“Aye.. miho that’s not true, you got your papa, and were able to scare him off, he didn’t even take anything besides food…” Pepa said, caressing her baby’s hair.
“Abuela says… breakfast is ready.” Dolores spoke up.
“Aye.. dios mio.” Pepa grumbled, standing up, followed by Felix. “Honey, get dressed and meet us down there if you're feeling up to it.”
“Si, mamí..”
Everyone eventually left the room… and it was just Antonio and his animals once more. Parce, the Jaguar crawled into bed with him. Sitting on his lap, the Jaguar growled, calling over one of the coatis’, who carried a little green object, giving it to antonio.
Upon inspecting it, he recognized it as the piece of cloth he had torn off the burglar. Frowning, Antonio got dressed for the day, and pocketed the cloth. Making his way downstairs, he was met with the usual breakfast bustling, however, most of the family was worried for him, whilst Abuela ignored him, and the madrigals, such as Isabela and Yessenia. One she had a tight grip on dared not acknowledge him.
And as per usual, Antonio ate his food, Abuela gave her speech, and the family went off to their chores. Except today a lot of people need Estefania to carry things for them, and she refused to be without Yessenia. So Abuela had no choice but to let Yessenia not be attached to her hip.
As for Antonio, he did his usual chores. He talked to the farm animals, to the pets, helped anyone who needed some strength, helped clean things, a boring routine he was sick of. Eventually, he found himself unneeded, having finished all pre decided chores in sight, finding himself wandering the river, where he found none other than the eldest Luisa Madrigal, braiding her daughters Yessenia and Estefania’s hair.
Antonio walked over “hola mis hermosas sobrinas!” He said, looking at the braids Luisa was doing. “How are you, Luisa?”
Luisa Responded with a bright smile, happily speaking “I’m great! Making my babies take a break!”
Antonio returned the cheery smile with a tired one, sitting next to her. He admired his prima so much, she raised her babies with no gift of strength to help her, she married a man Abuela didn’t approve of, and lost him too, she still is so kind, and so strong after all she’s been through… he admired her.
“What brings you?”
“Finished most of my chores…”
“How’s your head?”
“Ate tia juliettas food, I’m good!”
“And how are you?”
Antonio blinked, “uh, I ate Tias food, so I’m good!” He’d repeat, nudging his prima.
“No no nooooo, I mean how are you feeling… aren’t you shaken up?” Luisa looked over, a concerned face plastered over her sweet smile.
“Ah…yes”
“Tonito, you don’t need to lie to me, I’m here for you…” Luisa's voice shook Antonio to his core, so much so that he started to cry once again “I was… I was scared, I didn’t do anything to stop the burglar, and ended up hurt because of it…” he’d say, curling up and playing with his hair.
Luisa pulled him, giving him a big hug, cracking his back “oh tonito, you're safe now, I know it must’ve been scary..”
After the initial relief and shock of the hug, and free back crack, Antonio returned his prima hug with one of his own. “I tried to stop him, but I just ripped off a piece of his clothes…” he’d sigh once being let go by Luisa.
“You tore a piece of his clothes?”
“Si,” Antonio pulled out the tiny bit of fabric he had, about as big as him palm and showed his prima.
Luisa took the cloth, and her eyes widened with a mix of confusion and worry.
“What? What’s wrong?”
Luisa stayed silent, inspecting the cloth carefully, bringing it to her face. “You said this was the guy who broke in?”
“Si, what’s wrong with it? Do you recognize the cloth?”
“I do… but it doesn’t seem likely… it just looked like…” she looked to her daughters, exhaling in remembrance of the fact Yessenia already knew was she was thinking, instead of trying to hide it, she simply held her finger to her mouth in a hush motion. “…it simply, kinda maybe a little…. Looks like our tio bruno's ruana.
“WHAT!!!!” Antonio yelled, the animals jumping from his shock.
“SshhhHHHH!” Luisa covered his mouth before going to show him the cloth “Tio Bruno’s color was green, and his symbol was an hourglass. See here,” she’d run her hand along some torn old ass embroidery that had since loosened from the tearing. “It makes that triangle sorta shaped, like the corner of Bruno’s hourglasses of his Ruana…”
“Luisa, what are you saying?”
“I’m not saying anything, Tonito. Clothing isn’t enough to make a case.”
“Luisa! Our clothes are like the marks of our family! No one in Encanto does this with their clothes! This has got to be Tio Bruno’s!” He said, taking the cloth. “What do you know about Tio bruno?”
Luisa stood, frowning. “I’m sorry Tonito, but I’m not telling you anything about bruno.”
“What?! But you just gave me a whole description about his clothes!”
“Clothing is different, last time I talked about him and his cursed visions, bad things happened!”
“Luisa! Come on, just tell me what’s wrong with Tio Bruno!”
“There’s nothing to tell.” Luisa snapped back.
“Luisa, if the casa is being broken into by some estranged crazy Tio of ours, and you know something and it happens again because you won’t tell anyone what’s wron—“
Luisa turned, screaming “NOTHINGS WRONG!!!” She roared, causing Antonio to flinch.
Luisa stuttered, shaking her head “I’m sorry, I’m sorry. That just slipped out… what I mean is… nothing good has come out of talking about bruno…” she’d exhale, shaking her head. “…Mirabel… had asked me a similar question about Bruno, and…. She never…” Luisa covered her mouth and clothed her eyes, a heartbreaking sight.
Antonio placed his arm on Luisa, who nodded to him and continued.
“I told mirabel… about Tio Bruno. And she went to go looking for more… and well… after she went back towards the casita, I never saw her again .... none of us did.” She sighed, sitting on a random bench, covering her face. “I don’t want the same for you, hombrecito…” she’d whisper. “So, please don’t ask me about him again.”
“Si.. I won’t, I’m sorry…” he’d give his prima a kiss on the temple then wrapped his arms around her, hugging her.
“Aye… you’re so sweet Antonio.” She said with a sad smile “Why don't you go rest at home now that you're done with your chores…”
“...Si, Luisa…” He sighed, getting up and leaving her there… At least he wasn't the only one who missed Mirabel.
And, as per usual. Antonio made it home safely, and easily. And walking inside, he glanced to the direction of the kitchen, frowning nervously, scratching the back of his head. Slowly, his gaze turned to Bruno’s tower. “Sorry…Luisa, But… I need… Answers. Closure…” he’d whisper, charging to the tower. Once getting inside, He found himself tripping from the sudden drop, sliding down the sad legs first, and groaning once seeing the tons of stairs that led up, Then one of his toucans stopped on his shoulder, squawking.
“Oh, hey! You come to keep me company?” Antonio asked as he started up the stairs, the bird resting comfortably on his shoulder.
A quarter up the stairs, groaning mirabels song “welcome to the family-” he’d trip on the uneven stairs, causing the bird to leave him. “Oh come on! I'm sorry!” he’d call to the bird who ignored him.
Half way up; “So many stairs in the-” he’d groan, crawling on all fours up the stairs “madrigal!”
He’d be three quarters up, nearly vomiting. He was too malnourished to be doing crap like this. He took a mental note that he should stop skipping meals on purpose. “So many- AAAAHHH!” He’d scream, frustrated as he continued.
Antonio worked his way up the last few flights of stairs, finally making it to the top, and upon seeing the broken bridge, taking a minute to cry out of more frustration. “Aye, Guys, you think you can help me?” he’d as the few more birds that had joined along for the ride. “See anyway I can get across?”
The bigger birds, the toucans. Flew off, landing on a nook “Ohhh, yeah that's a good idea!” he’d yell, ripping the piece of wood off, and with the help of the toucans getting it lodged enough for him to swing properly across. Over the years of living in his room, he’s gotten incredibly good at swinging around like he’s tarzan or something. Anyways, swinging was easy, enough said.
Once across and on the side of the cave, he’d walk in seeing the rats, petting some, seeing the statues, and getting creeped out “is that bruno?” he’d ask a passing rat, and nodding to it once it responded back to him. Clutching the piece of cloth, he’d charge into the circular door, using every ounce of bravery he had left. “This… this is just a broken room…” he’d whisper, heartbroken as he looked around the crumbled room, he was barely able to enter the room before being stopped by a ton of boulders. He’d leave the sorry excuse of a room to continue searching for things, inspecting the statues, asking the rats wha in the nose hole they were so obsessed with. Getting creeped out by the decor of course. He searched everywhere he could think of, dropped a rock from one of the broken statues to see how far the stairs went down. He knocked on the stone, peeked into every crevice, tried finding any code, looking and looking he couldn't find anything, what was he even looking for? He didn't know, so he gave up and made his way back downstairs, thanks to the toucans bringing the rope back towards him to swing on.
When Antonio made his way to the bottom of the stairs, he found himself struggling to get up the slide of sand he had fallen down when he first came in, the more he tried, the more he struggled.
“Come on- Miercoles…” he’d grumble, halfway up when he suddenly felt a prick of pain on his left hand, retracting it quickly, he found blood… “why-” he hissed in pain, cautiously putting his right hand into the mess, eventually finding what had cut him. “Glass?” he’d question, inspecting the green shard, slowly finding part of the casita in it.
“Casita…?” he’d mumble, continuing to search for more shards, the toucans accompanying him digging with their beaks, finding pieces of their own, and placing it in a pile by the exit. Once Antonio was sure he had all the pieces, he continued to climb, having more difficulty than before with an injured hand but eventually making it up and taking the shards. Using his scarf as a makeshift bag to hide the pieces, going straight to his room, he called on his coatis’ to grab him an arepa for his hand. He’d organize the pieces, slowly putting the puzzle of shards together.
His eyes slowly widened as his blood ran cold “what… is this?” he’d whisper, staring at the green glass picture of his missing prima. “Mirabel…” he’d whisper, touching the cheek of the image, retracting his hand once he found a droplet of water falling onto her face… Antonio touched the water, now realizing he had begun to cry. “Mirabel…” he’d start stuttering, leaning over the picture, unable to control his sobs.
And of course, he had to find out what this was, what this meant… What was he gonna do?
A well timed knock came. “Antonio!!!” a bunch of other knocks came soon after, all by the voice outside the door. There were two people who owned that voice, but only one of them had that much energy. “Alright alright!!! Estefania came in!” he’d yell, hiding the picture with his scarf, whipping his face of tears, and turning to the little girl running at him with a blue window of glass in hand
“Aye, dios mío Estefania! You're more worked up than usual!” he’d exhale as the little girl hugged him.
“Toni!! Toni! Nia wanted me to tell you someone's thoughts!” She’d say with a smile.
Yessenia, thanks to her ability, was a lot more observant than her sister. She knew that thanks to being Abuela’s current obedient golden child, she found that she could rarely ever be apart from her. So, the few times she wanted to hide something from their abuela, She asked her sister. And now, she sent her sister to tell Antonio about someone's thoughts… Something she only really told Abuela.
“Whose thoughts?” Antonio asked, worriedly taking a knee to listen to Estefania.
“¡Abuela Juliettas!” Estefania smiled, continuing to hug her Tio. Ever since they were young, The youngest generation of Madrigals always wanted to follow Antonio like shadows.
“Go on then, give me the thought!” Antonio smiles, sweating profusely as he holds his hands out, a dark blue glass portrait, similar to the green shattered one that sat on his desk was placed. As he took Juliettas thoughts into his hands, He saw a childlike version of his Mom and Tia Julietta. But there was someone else… A strange little boy with ragged hair, covered in rats. The girls were smiling, all excited, looking at a glass window, almost identical to the one he was holding. Only he couldn't see what he was showing his mom and tia, it was blank, He assumed his tia couldn't remember what was on the slab. They all looked… Happy.
“Tio Bruno?” He’d whisper to Estefania, questioning her
“I don't know who that is?”
“Ah, course’ not. Tell Yessenia I said thank you!”
“Okayyy!” Estefania ran out of the room, just as fast as she had come in, back to her other half's side.
Antonio was all alone again, with more questions, and more clues. Setting all the things he had gathered beforehand side by side.
A green piece of cloth.
A green, shattered glass picture of Mirabel standing in front of Casita.
And A blue, intact glass picture of his mom and her siblings as children.
“Why did you give me this…Nia..” he’d whisper, inspecting her premonition, then starting to pace back and forth.
“What does this mean…Tio Bruno was in the house? Why is he back…” he’d whisper, looking at the portraits, then freezing. Bruno’s glass was changing… Antonio backs up, watching it go back to how it was before, then moving from side to side to watch the vision change.
“Cracks.. No cracks.. Cracks.. No cracks.. Oh my god what does this meaAAAANNN!!” he’d shout, frustrated.
End of Chapter