-comes back after a long hiatus

-throws a Disney fanfic at you

-refuses to elaborate further

-leaves

"Bruno."

Bruno blinked out of a daze and looked up at the sound of his mother's voice. She stood there, stern as always, but he could easily see the worry on her face. "Yes, mamá?" He replied hesitantly.

"Come with me. Quickly."

Alma started walking away without waiting for an answer. Bruno quickly stood to follow her.

Their home was quiet now, but the tense atmosphere hadn't lifted. Only a few hours ago, the entire village had been gathered in their foyer for little Mirabel's gift ceremony. A ceremony that had ended in confusion, disappointment, and anxiety. It was no surprise that Alma seemed so stressed right now.

Bruno followed his mother quietly through the top story of their home. Across the halls he spotted the door of the nursery, where Mirabel had quickly disappeared with her parents after the failed ceremony. Isabela, Luisa, and Camilo were all pressed against the door, trying to listen. Dolores stood a bit farther behind, no doubt hearing every word. Bruno winced at the sight. They had been in there for a while. How long would it take to comfort the poor girl after such a shock?

Alma urged him along and he scrambled to keep up with her. "Mamá, where are we going?" Bruno asked.

"To your vision cave," Alma replied curtly. "I need you to look into the future for me."

Bruno stopped in his tracks. "What? Wha—why?"

His mother paused, slightly impatient. "Bruno," she began. A shadow seemed to cross her face as she spoke. "You saw what happened today. Mirabel's door disappeared. It crumbled to dust. This has never happened before." She gulped. "I fear that the magic, our miracle…may be in danger somehow."

Bruno nodded slowly. "I understand that, but…what does that have to do with me?"

"You must look forward and see the fate of our family, our home," Alma insisted. "To understand what kind of danger we are in. Your gift is the only thing I can think of that can give us some answers about what happened tonight."

"Mamá I…I don't think this is a good idea." He held up his hands, almost physically shrinking back from the request. "You know my…gift…always seems to see the worst. Besides, I haven't used it in a while, I-I'm…rusty."

"Ay, Bruno." Alma turned back around, already sick of his excuses. "I do not have time for these games," she snapped harshly. "The magic is in trouble, and it is your duty to use your gift to help your family, is it not?"

Bruno took a step back.

Seeing this, Alma looked guilty for just a moment. She held out her arm and waved him over. "Come, come, mijo. Follow me."

Bruno wrung his hands together nervously, but obeyed. Silently, he and his mother walked side by side, until they arrived in the familiar top room of the house, where the magic, undying candle stood proudly. Looking at it now, one never would have guessed that anything was wrong. Bruno watched his mother stand quietly by the candle for a few moments, cupping its flame with her hand like it was a delicate flower.

"I do not have to tell you have important this is to us, right?" Alma asked softly.

"Right."

"Bruno, if anything were to happen to this home…" Alma paused, taking a shaky breath to steady herself. "We…cannot allow that. If there is something in our future that we must prepare for, I must know what it is." She turned to him with a pleading look on her face, quickly wearing away at Bruno's resolve. "Bruno, you could be the difference between saving this family and losing it."

Bruno looked at the floor. "I understand, mamá…I'm just afraid of what I might see."

"I know. So am I." She took a step closer and gently put a hand on his shoulder. "But that is why we must do it. Please, Brunito. Do it for me. For the family."

Bruno heaved a long sigh of defeat. How could he say no to his mother begging him for help? "Alright. I'll do it."

A short while later, the two of them arrived in Bruno's vision cave. Bruno let his mother sit down to rest a bit after climbing all those stairs, while he got everything ready.

Once he finished pouring his sand circle, Bruno put down the bag and turned back to his mother. "Alright, uh…time to get started." He held an awkward hand out to her. "Are you coming?"

At this, Alma cracked a tiny, apologetic smile. "Ah, isi,/i I would love to, but…" she looked a little embarrassed. "The thing is, when you work, sometimes the sand, it gets in my eyes."

"Oh. Uh, sorry."

"Don't worry about it. You go ahead and get to work."

"Right, I'll just tell you what I see, then…" He turned back around and sat down, positioning himself in the circle. Bruno closed his eyes and took a long, deep breath, feeling the weight of his mother's gaze on him from behind. He took a moment to will his pounding heart to slow down….then he reached his hands forward, toward the great unknown.

The sand swirled into the air around him, glowing his signature bright green. Alma used her shawl to shield her eyes, and called out to him from behind it. "What do you see, mijo?"

Bruno opened his eyes, watching as the sand particles formed themselves into shapes and worlds. He almost hadn't heard his mother. "I see…" he said slowly. The sand flew in all different directions, until it finally made something he could recognize. "Ah…I see Casita! I see the candle. It…oh no…." He was at a loss for words as he watched the scene before him in horror, only speaking once his mother prompted him. "It…it's dying. Everything is breaking! Casita…it's falling to pieces."

"Dios mio…" Alma whispered. She used her free hand to steady herself in her seat. "It is even worse than I feared…"

"Wait, wait!" Bruno cried suddenly. "There's something else, there's…there's someone there! Someone's standing in front of Casita."

"Who?" Alma demanded. "Who is it?"

"I-It's not clear, wait…" Bruno squinted desperately, watching Casita's cracks mysteriously disappear and reappear, but he kept his focus on the figure. They had their back turned to him, watching the catastrophe unfold. Painfully slowly, the person began to turn. Bruno leaned forward. "I-it's…"

His heart sank. Bruno's breath hitched at the familiar figure before him, much older but still distinctly recognizable. Mirabel. Sweet, little Mirabel, who right now was just a broken-hearted child crying in her room after being denied her family's blessings.

But what did this mean? Mirabel's ceremony failing, Mirabel standing in his vision as their home is destroyed? Mirabel, the only one of Bruno's nieces and nephews who approached him with curiosity regather than apprehension, Mirabel who had been nothing but a bright, brave, brilliant girl from the day she was born—she was at the center of their family's fated doom?

"No…" Bruno just barely managed to whisper. "It can't be."

Bruno ended the vision. The sand fell around him like a tragic curtain call, only accentuating the sick sinking feeling in his stomach. Bruno leaned forward, breathing heavily. Before him sat the newly formed glass vision board, Mirabel's face staring, frozen, back up at him.

Alma started rushing over, and Bruno quickly grabbed the board and held it close to his chest so she couldn't see. He was still reeling from the shock, but he knew in his heart that his mother could not see this.

Alma helped him stand, dusting the sand out of his hair as she did so. Then she looked at him expectantly. "Show me."

Bruno gripped the board closer, his eyes darting around the room. "Ah, ahem, well…I don't know if you want to look at this, mamá, it's very…you know…"

"Distressing," Alma finished solemnly. "Yes, I know. We can sit down and look at it together." She tried to lead him toward where she was sitting before, but Bruno weaseled out of her grasp.

"No—! Uh, you know, maybe it's just not the best time to make ourselves feel worse right now—." Bruno was fully aware that he was rambling now, his thoughts were so scattered. "Maybe we should wait a bit, take a nice deep breath, go for a walk around the neighborhood—."

"What are you talking about?" his mother snapped. "This is an urgent matter! You said someone was destroying our casita!"

"Destroying? I wouldn't say destroying, they were definitely there—."

"Bruno!"

"And you know what? I have no idea who they were. Total stranger, never seen 'em before. Mm-hmm. And very very ugly, too, horrifically ugly, you don't want to look, it will just make you feel worse—."

Alma slammed her cane on the floor. "Enough of this nonsense, Bruno! I don't care what they look like, I must see who it is. Give me the tablet now. Do not hide things from your mother!"

Bruno kept backing away in a panic. "Mama please, I-I'm only trying to protect your feelings! I just..I'm only…I'm just trying to protect…"

His words trailed off as he officially ran out of things to say. His mother was still expectant, now angry too, but he couldn't. He just couldn't.

"You know what? I think I heard Pepa calling for you right before we came in here. She must be going crazy looking for you. Ha, maybe we should make sure the house isn't going up in a storm before we deconstruct this whole vision thing." Hopping forward, he took his mother's arm and started pushing her out the door of his cave.

"Ay! What are you—!"

"Go check on her, take a moment to relax, I'll come down when I'm ready, okay bye!"

Without thinking, he had pushed her out of the cave and slammed the door. He was in trouble, he was in so much trouble, but he would cross that bridge later. Right now, his one objective was keeping this awful vision away from his mother. He hated to think about what would happen if she saw it.

"Bruno!" Alma shouted from the other side, slamming the door with her fist. "Of all the childish—! You open the door this instant!" She followed this up with a few angry words in Spanish, in between her furious knocks.

Bruno had already stopped listening. He remained leaning against the door, now with his back to it, staring back into the empty room with the tablet pressed against his chest. His deep, panicked breaths and still-pounding heart were the only things he could make out right now.

Why Mirabel, why Mirabel? He had been prepared for the worst, but this was beyond that!

But there was something else. As he turned the board over in his hands, he noticed the cracks in Casita seeming to disappear. Then come back. Then disappear again. What did that mean, what did that mean? This had never happened to one of his visions before. A future in motion, an uncertain ending…he was too frazzled to think about it properly.

But he did know one thing. The more he stared at this cursed prediction of the future, the more it sickened him. Steeling himself, Bruno finally stood up straight once more.

He raised the board above his head, then slammed it down onto the ground, shattering it to pieces. The sound was almost satisfying, but not enough to counteract the fear. Bruno started kicking the shards toward the sand, then quickly started to bury them. In truth, he still wasn't completely thinking about what he was doing. He just needed to get this thing away, buried forever, so no one would know.

No one would know…

Once all the shards were under the sand, Bruno slumped back down on the floor. He still felt sick.

Time passed agonizingly slow. Bruno could no longer hear his mother outside. She must have gone to get help, maybe. Or she would just wait for him to come out so she could chew him out. He didn't care.

As Bruno remained alone, in his room, his heart eventually slowing down, he came to a realization.

This wasn't the end. The board may be destroyed, but he still knew what he saw. His mother would demand that he tell her. She would demand he make another one.

Mirabel…

Bruno didn't know how long he stayed there. Every time of day looked the same in his cave. But at last, after mulling it over in his head a thousand different times, he came to a decision.

He couldn't let his mother find out.

He couldn't let Mirabel come under fire.

For her sake, he would disappear.

this concept has been done so many times in this fandom already that it may as well be its own genre