The shining light coming through the nursery was slowly blocked out by dark clouds. Bruno dragged himself from the bed to the window and watched the sun disappear and a snowy hurricane form. He hit the side of the window with his knuckles chanting as he went "Knock knock knock knock knock, knock on wood."
He could hear Pepa's muffled distraught voice beyond the door. Several pairs of feet scuffled around the house. Panicked voices got louder. He knew it would be a bad idea to tell them. It was his own fault really, he gave the information to Pepa, leaving her to spread the bad news. He threw some salt over his shoulder and hoped for the best.
.-.
Pepa had left the room running quickly to look for her husband. "Felix!" She yelled, her heart racing with the beginnings of an anxiety attack. As soon as she saw him in the front room of the house she ran into his arms crying.
"Mi vida," Felix said concerned. "What's wrong?"
"Mama is going to die," She cried. Julieta and Agustin, hearing the commotion, came to them to see what the trouble was. Wind whirled around them and snow fell from the sky.
"Pepa!" Abuela yelled over the wind. "Calm yourself! What is wrong?!"
Seeing her mom made it worse and she ran to her crying and hugging her. Alma hugged her and rubbed her back but felt very confused. It took a few minutes but soon the wind calmed and snow flakes began to fall gently. Everyone that was in their room was now standing on the second floor looking down to see what was going on.
"Mama," Pepa said trying to wipe away her tears. "Bruno had a vision. He said the town was going to be attacked by a small army led by Andre. He said they are going to kill you." Alma was in shock, and suddenly everyone was running around talking and yelling about how it could or couldn't be true. Julieta was beside herself and her husband tried to reassure her.
.-.
Bruno could hear the yelling. It was deafening. He hit his head against the glass of the window, the sound of it went to his ears blocking all other noises for just a second. He did it a little harder, it hurt and he was reminded that he was wrong to place such a burden on Pepa. He punished himself by slamming his head in to the window again and again.
.-.
Abuela finally shouted at everyone, "Enough!" Everyone stopped talking and listened to see what she had to say. "We need to prepare the town for the worst. Pepa, Felix, Julieta, and Agustin; we are all going to town to warn them and to come up with a plan to keep everyone safe." She addressed her grandchildren, "Do not leave the house!"
Alma believed what Pepa said was true. She did not need to confirm it with Bruno, because he would never say something like this if it weren't true. The parents hugged their kids and wished for their safety before swiftly leaving the house. They did not know when and attack would come. It could be in the next hour or in a week.
The younger Madrigals didn't think this could happen. They didn't remember seeing an army worth of men with Andre. It was twenty at most. They had to confirm this with their tio. Mirabel led the way to the nursery.
Right before they reached the door, they heard glass break on the other side of the door. Mirabel opened it revealing their tio with a bloody forehead and a shard of glass in his hand cutting in to his arm. The moment Bruno turned to see his nieces and nephews, sorrow filled his chest. He regretted that they saw any of this, they were just kids.
Their reactions were instant. Dolores turned Antonio to look away. Luisa and Isabela yelled for Bruno to stop what he was doing. Mirabel and Camilo ran toward him grabbing his wrists before he could inflict more damage. He didn't fight or pull away; just let them fuss and force him to sit down.
Bruno was sat on the bed while Mirabel wrapped cloth around his left forearm to work as a bandage. Bandages weren't needed in the encanto when their was healing food. But he still refused to eat it. She mopped the blood off his forehead and he refused any type of bandage for the cut. Blood soaked through the cloth on his arm but there wasn't much they could do.
Luisa, Dolores, and Antonio had left the room. Antonio was too young to see it, while Dolores and Luisa could not stomach it. Camilo and Mirabel stuck around as they just wanted to make sure he was okay. But Isabela was sorely disappointed and felt the need to make him know how wrong he was to do something like this.
"Abuela and our parents are off warning people about your vision! Abuela might die! And you're in here trying to what exactly?!" She paced the room. It would have felt weird to scold someone so much older than her if she were not so angry. "Have you lost your mind?!"
Bruno hung his head in shame. He felt like he had deserved the pain. When Andre would punish him, it was horrible, but it left a lasting impression to help him follow the rules. The prophet believed, in a way, that he could somehow translate that type of principle for home, so he would not hurt and disappoint his family so much.
In another way; however, he felt like the pain helped him deal with everything around him. It took all of his grief and misery away temporarily. The pain took his mind off of what happened to him and helped him focus on the present. He knew it was wrong, but he just couldn't help it.
"Isabela," Mirabel stopped her sister from going on. "Give him a break. He's just having a tough time." Isabela just didn't want him to hurt himself and she wished she could fix it. She sighed and nodded sadly.
Mirabel sat next to her tio. "I hope you can understand," she said calmly placing the Arepa in his hand. "When you are hurt, we are hurt. We just want you to get better and heal. Please, tio Bruno just try a little."
.=.
Abuela discussed with the leaders in town about protection and possible evacuation. Pepa, Felix, Julieta, and Agustin made their way to the crack in the mountain to find ways to block it. But as they reached closer, they saw the worst case scenario. Men were coming through one by one with machetes. Some were on horse back and others on foot. They saw Andre on horse back yelling for them to follow him.
The wind picked up from Pepa's worry. "Try to stay calm," Julieta warned. They ran from the men before they could be seen, and warned anyone they came into contact with to follow them and take refuge at the Casa Madrigal.
It was a domino effect. People were running and warning each other. Everyone was in a panic, some tried to find their loved ones, some tried to help their neighbors, others tried to save their livestock. It was a mess of people running from one place to the next.
Pepa and Julieta worried terribly for their mother. The vision was already coming true and they didn't know how to stop it. All they could do was try to protect her and stop the men from coming.
People began arriving to the house causing Casita some confusion. Once it saw Julieta it opened it's doors. She led people in waving them on. Dolores sent Antonio to his room and told him not to open it for anyone or anything. She then joined Luisa, Isabela, Mirabel, and Camilo downstairs.
"What going on?" Mirabel asked as her mother came rushing in.
"Men with weapons just entered the encanto," She said quickly. "I have to go back out there and help who I can. Stay here!" Julieta left running through the forming crowed, toward the town. She hoped she would find her mother soon and bring her home to keep her safe.
"We have to help!" Mirabel exclaimed. It was an attack on their home, and they could not stand by letting it be destroyed. The others agreed with her and ran toward town ignoring Julieta's wishes.
.-.
Bruno could hear the commotion outside his door and tried to open it. Casita was placed in charge of his protection once again and would not allow him to leave. The house felt bad enough as it was being unable to stop him from hurting himself. The prophet had been so quick to do it that Casita could not have stopped it from happening. But it could stop further damage.
"Casita, you need to let me go out there and help," Bruno tried to reason with the house. It did not react. "I can stop them. I just need to get to Andre." Casita still refused. "You either let me out the door or I am going out the window." Still nothing. He ran toward the window only to be tripped by a floorboard. He got up and kept going.
A few falls later and he was struggling out the window trying to get the shutters to let go of his leg. "Casita, Let go!" He finally fell into the grass outside of the house. Casita waved it shutters with worry. "Don't worry, I'll take the blame for this," Bruno said throwing salt over his shoulder before running toward town.
He pulled the Arepa from his pocket, it had been nibbled on by some of the rats hiding in his clothes. He took a bite, the bruises on his backside, cuts on his legs, arm, and forehead, bump on the back of his head, and broken finger were healed. He hadn't felt painlessness in so many days; it was almost euphoric. He ran faster, his ruana flapping in the wind, determined to stop Andre and Dante.
.=.
The gang made their way through town harassing and harming people. They set fires and destroyed everything they came into contact with. Andre and Dante galloped ahead with half the men on horseback making their way closer and closer to Casita.
Pepa stood in their path a small length away. Andre gave Dante a hand signal to indicate that it was a person with a power. Dante pointed his machete at her direction and yelled "Capture, do not kill!" to his men as they rode toward her.
Pepa watched them angrily and lightning came down from the sky striking some of the men. Luisa was close by and began throwing heavy objects in their direction making the men scatter. They worked together trying to take out as many as possible.
Isabela made her way toward the men on foot that were attacking people. She grew large cacti to block certain directions. Vines shot out of the ground snapping and hitting them. Men were hit and flung in the direction they had come from. She formed trees, starting small to wrap around some of them and let the trees grow big, tangling and trapping them by the hard wood. Felix worked with her fighting off stragglers that tried to bypass her or go after her.
Mirabel, Dolores, Camilo, Agustin, and Julieta were separated throughout town directing people in the right direction. Dolores used her gift to find people who were hiding, so she could send them to Casita which would be a more protected area. Julieta fed the injured and had them keep running for safety.
Camilo spotted Andre far away riding toward him and ultimately Casita. He was determined to not let the mad man get his tio. So he morphed to look like Bruno and stood out in the open waiting.
When Andre got closer he saw Bruno standing in the road. "I found my prize!" He yelled to his friend. Dante laughed and rode on leaving the carpenter behind. Andre stopped in front of Camilo, disguised as Bruno, and dismounted his horse. "Did you miss me little mouse?" He asked with a smile. "I see your family healed you. I'm glad you're okay."
"I don't want you here," Camilo said using his best impression of how his tio would act and talk. Andre walked up to him menacingly. He wrapped an arm around Camilo's waist bringing their bodies together and held the boy's chin between his finger and thumb. The boy reached for his pocket knife flipping it open. Andre leaned in for a kiss and Camilo raised the knife and stabbed it into the man's chest.
Andre yelped and pulled it out quickly causing blood to spurt and gush on his clothes. Luckily for him, the blade was only the size of his thumb. His expression turned dangerous and angry. "Well, that's an awfully mean trick Camilo." He said wrapping his hand around the kid's neck. "Next time use a bigger weapon. You can't kill a man with this."
Camilo morphed back to himself. "How did you know it was me? He could have stabbed you just as easily, after everything you've done to him."
Andre smiled amused. "I trained Bruno to never say no and to never fight back. He wouldn't refuse me anything."
"Bullshit," Camilo spit out as a large hand began to squeeze his neck.
"You can get someone to do anything if you put enough time and effort in," Andre responded. "I put all of my effort into your tio over and over again." He laughed at his own joke and lifted Camilo completely by the throat choking him. "Maybe the next time I fuck your tio, I'll describe in detail about how I killed you and make him cum to it." Andre laughed manically enjoying the feel of the kid's throat in his grasp constricting and gasping for air.
Suddenly they were both tackled to the ground. The grasp on Camilo let go and he rolled away. Andre smiled excitedly seeing his precious little mouse on top of him. "You were so happy to see me that you just couldn't wait till I was done."
Bruno pulled the knife from Andre's boot and tried to stab him with it. The bigger man grabbed his wrist easily, twisting it and making it fall to the ground. "That's not very nice," he said frowning. He pulled the smaller man up against his body and kissed him. Bruno kicked him hard between his legs making him let go and cup his dangling unmentionable in pain. "You fucker!" Andre yelped.
"That's for me," Bruno said. "And this is for my family." He picked the knife up again and charged at the larger man. Andre grabbed his arm in time and twisted him around pulling them together again with Bruno's back against his chest.
Camilo watched helplessly as the knife was pressed to his tio's throat. "Don't think about interfering little boy," Andre yelled to him. "Looks like you have some more learning to do," Andre said in his lover's ear. "That's okay, sometimes family can get into a person's head, even when just visiting them."
"I have an idea," Andre exclaimed as men with weapons ran passed chasing people. Chaos happening all around them. "How about we have another round where your family watches again." Bruno tried to pull away, but he wasn't strong enough. "Dante is going to gather them all up and use them, or sell them. So they can all see the show before they are gone from our lives forever,"
"Leave my family alone," Bruno begged a whine escaping his throat. "This is between us, please." Movement from Bruno's clothes caught Andre's attention. The rat in Bruno's pocket had woken from it's nap and climbed to his chest peeking out of the green ruana. Once again it's human was out doing things that the rat did not want to be involved in.
A tall man looked at it with a quizzical look. The rat recognized the trouble it was facing, the man had a knife to the throat of it's custodian. Angrily the rat squeaked alerting the other rats in Bruno's clothes and ones close by, which had been following him.
Ever sense Bruno had gone missing the rats had been miserable. The human gave them all the food, love, and care they could ever want. It had been like that throughout many generations of rats. Without him, they were left with scraps, and trying to fend for themselves. Bruno meant paradise and they weren't about to give that up anytime soon.
The rat crawled on to the tall mans shoulder and bit down hard drawing blood. "Fuck!" Andre yelped ripping it off of him and throwing it. Bruno took advantage of the distraction and twisted in his arm and tried to push away. Andre held him tight in one arm lifting his knife in defense.
Rats started to scurry out of their hiding places running toward them. Bruno was surprised that his rats had left the house. To avoid predators and frightened humans, they often stayed home. Rats climbed from Bruno's clothes on to the man that held him hostage. More rats from the ground climbed up the tall man's legs.
They bit him and gnawed at his skin and clothes. Increasingly alarmed, Andre let go of Bruno and tried pulling the rats off of himself and throwing them to the ground. They just kept coming covering him in rats. No part of him was safe. He screamed in terror and agony as the rats ripped into his skin.
Camilo and Bruno watched in horror as Andre fell to the ground trying to roll in order to get the rats off of him. His screams came out in shrieks and wails. Blood started to drip and splatter and Bruno stepped away to avoid it. The prophet knelt by his nephew to check to see if he was okay.
Camilo couldn't pull his eyes away from the sight of Andre being eaten by rats. Bruno grabbed his nephew's head covering his ears from the screaming. He pulled Camilo to look at him to keep him from witnessing the scene any further.
Eventually the screaming turned to gurgling. The frantic movement became twitching. And once he stopped moving the rats dispersed leaving a bloody half eaten mess. Bruno hugged Camlio close keeping the boy from seeing. But he looked at the remains himself and didn't know if he should feel scared or relieved.