Chapter Text
“Bruno, think about this!” Julieta insisted. The triplets stood in the dark outside of their home, nothing but Pepa’s lightning to illuminate Bruno’s attempt at leaving. If Julieta hadn’t needed to wake up to feed the newborn Isabela, they wouldn’t have even known Bruno was gone until morning. Luckily their mother hadn’t been woken up by the massive thunderstorm that was brewing.
“Oh, I have,” Bruno said, “And I know that I have to do this.”
“This is stupid!” Pepa insisted, “What on earth are you expecting to find out there?”
“I don’t know,” the young man admitted, ducking his head, “But I need answers, and I know I’m not going to find them in the Encanto.”
“Bruno, please,” Julieta begged, “You know this is going to kill Mama.”
Bruno hesitated, then his hand landed on the bag by his side, “It will kill her more if I don’t figure this out. I’ll be fine.”
“How can you know that?” Pepa asked, thunder rolling behind her words.”
“I can see the future, remember?” Bruno smiled at her, “I’ll be home just as soon as I figure this out.”
“Bruno!” Pepa protested, but he just swung up onto his horse.
“I promise I’ll be back,” he vowed, “I love you.”
“Bruno!” his sisters both cried, but he was already gone, riding out into the storm and away from the Encanto.
He paused only once, at the top of a rise, to look back at the little town that had been his home for as long as he could remember, at the lights in the house he’d grown up in. Then he dug down into his bag to find the vision tablet he’d concealed at the bottom.
Casita, covered in cracks one moment and whole and pristine the next, and the girl who looked so like Julieta standing before it.
“I’m going to figure this out, kid,” Bruno promised the girl in the image, “You’re not going to grow up with this hanging over your head, I promise.”
Then he tucked the tablet away again and vanished into the night.
Decades later …
Julieta smiled as she handed out the food that would heal the many and varied wounds the people of the village had accrued that day. There were more than normal, apparently there’d been an accident at the construction site earlier, someone falling off a wall and taking a pallet of bricks down with them. Luisa had caught most of the falling materials, but there were still some injuries. And no one wanted to be injured tonight at Antonio's gift ceremony.
“Someone’s coming!” A pack of children ran down the street, “Someone’s coming!”
“Whoa, slow down kids,” Mirabel knelt down to catch them in the street, and Julieta quietly set a few arepas aside, “What’s going on?”
“Someone’s coming!” one of the kids panted, “Through the mountains!”
“What?” If Julieta didn’t know better, she’d think her mother had just teleported. Alma Madrigal was not a woman to be ruffled, but at this moment she very nearly achieved it.
“They’ve got a wagon and horses and they’re coming through the mountain!” One of the other kids yelled.
“The wagon is glowing ,” the third child said, eyes wide, “It’s completely clear, like glass!”
The crowds instantly began to murmur nervously.
“Everyone calm down,” Julieta’s mother ordered, “I will go and deal with this…”
“Too late!” Someone called, pointing.
Julieta looked up to see the wagon in question rumbling slowly towards the town, already passing Casita. The driver waved to the house as it passed, and Casita lost her mind, all but dancing on the hill. He was dressed in green…
“What’s wrong with Casita?” Mirabel asked, looking frantically between her mother and the house.
“It can’t be,” Julieta whispered.
“It is!” Pepa tore past, rainbow in her wake, “It’s Bruno!”
Julieta was hot on her heels in an instant, only barely arriving second to tackle their triplet in a hug.
“And what-” Pepa sniffled, “And what time do you call this, little brother?”
Bruno laughed sheepishly, rubbing at the back of his neck. He looked healthy, at least, and happy, even if he was crying too. “I missed you guys.”
“Where did you go?” Julieta demanded, “Why did it take you so long to come back?”
“That’s… that’s a long story,” Bruno admitted, shamefaced, “But! I want to introduce you to my wife.”
He pulled out of the three way hug just enough to give an incredibly pale and stunningly beautiful woman perhaps three or four years younger than them from the wagon, “This is my wife, Elsa. Elsa, these are my sisters, Julieta and Pepa.”
“It’s a pleasure to meet you,” Elsa smiled.
"And these are our kids!" Bruno said, "Hunter and Iduna. Kids, these are your Tias."
"Hi!" The girl jumped eagerly from the wagon. She was dressed in white like her mother, with flowers and leaves made of ice woven into her hair.
"Slow down!" her brother tried to grab her, but she barreled into Julieta and Pepa for a hug.
"Oh, it's very nice to meet you too!" Julieta returned the hug, but stared at her brother, "Bruno, where have you been?"
He laughed sheepishly. "That's... a long story."