RUN.

Every single shadow that has ever reared its head coagulates with an open door and those eyes emerging, blurring the lines between past, present, and future.

Large, brown, haunted.

Thick lashes, wide set, hurting.

"Wait!"

Pit-pat-pit-pat-pit-pat

Every single fear that has ever seized his heart drives ice then heat then ice again from his stomach down to his toes, and if he stops putting one foot in front of the other...if he falls...if he's caught...

"Stop!"

She's young, she's fast. Curiosity and Desperation are on her side, helping her keep pace with him. But he has Terror, fickle though it is, and finally manages to put enough distance between them when he comes to the Pit.

One, two, three...he overbalances but doesn't stumble. He's going to make it back. He's going to make it back. He's not going to be found.

Unless...

He stops to listen and feels Terror turn on him at the unmistakable sound of splintering wood.

No.

"Casita! Casita!? Help me! Help me, please!"

Back the way he came, future, present, past all colliding when he lunges for her hand, struggling to hold her weight. She looks at their clasped hands, then up into his face, her eyes meeting his.

Large, brown, haunted.

Thick lashes, wide set, hurting.

The remnants of adrenaline fight with common sense and love. He knows he's staring. Ten years of words and watching and warm hugs and warnings flash between them, and she follows him to his...room.

It doesn't take long for her to get the measure of things.

"You...never left."

Well, no. Aside from Casita quite literally sealing him in any time he'd truly considered it, he was probably the most likely to end up as a toothpick for any large jungle animal. And if he were completely honest with himself, he hadn't wanted to leave. Not really. But...

I will never be good enough for you, will I?

He starts slowly, piecing his past and her future together on a rusted mirror back, explaining what he can, explaining what he can't.

She's silent for a moment, incredulity in the words she finds. "You...left...to protect me?"

He finally allows himself to meet her eyes, to read them.

Large, brown, haunted.

Thick lashes, wide set, hurting.

Horrified.

Hopeful.

Hopeful.

Hopeful.

He hates the way her face falls when he takes it from her. "I don't know which way it'll go but...my guess...the magic, the Encanto...the fate of the Miracle itself...well, it's all going to come down to you."

She stares at the reassembled vision, slowly tilting it one way and then the other, her face mirroring the confusion and panic that drove him away.

Casita.

Cracks.

Casita.

Cracks.

His heart aches a little more when he shows her from the room. "Good luck. I wish I could have seen more."

With a light click, he closes the door on his past and sighs.

With a deafening SMACK, her future breaks it back down. "You wished you could have seen more, so see more. Have another vision!" She charges him with an ear-splitting grin that looks more than a little manic on the edges.

He backs away. "Oh, no, uh, see – I-I don't...do visions any more."

"But ya could."

"But I won't."

"You can't say 'The weight of the world is on your shoulders, the end.' If our fate's up to me, me says 'Have another vision.' Maybe it'll show me what to do."

He trips and falls over backwards in his haste to get away and clambers up again, determined to push back against the lure of the Magic, of the family. "Look, even if I wanted to – which I don't – you wrecked my vision cave, which is a problem because I need a big open space."

That infuriating hopefulness is back. "We'll find one!"

"Where?" He challenges and is only momentarily gratified to have stumped her when a third voice joins in.

"Use my room!" He and Mirabel turn to find Antonio, covered in rats and flanked by several other animals, standing in the doorway.


I wish I could have seen more. Ugh.

He wishes he could have kept his big mouth shut as he follows her.

"I can't believe I'm doing this." Bruno stammers at the short curls bouncing along in front of him. "I really can't believe I'm doing this. I've spent the past ten years trying to avoid doing this, and here I am, following two of my sobrinos – both of whom only discovered I existed ten minutes ago – into a magical forest in our magical house because I happen to be the resident soothsayer, going to look for the future that exiled me. I sound like a lunatic – "

"Tío, do you always talk to yourself this much?" Mirabel holds a hand up to stop the parade behind her and throws her uncle a questioning look.

"No."

Antonio pipes up. "The rats say yes."

"Maybe. Tattle-tales." He flares his nostrils at the two rats on top of Antonio's head who squeak innocently in reply. He throws his voice slightly further ahead, letting it echo around the corner behind which his niece just vanished. "You're really sure you want to do this."

"I'm really sure I don't have a better idea."

"That...isn't comforting."

"I think we're way past comfort."

She turns back to the wall, running her hand over a narrow crack that wasn't there during her trip down to her uncle's lair. As she watches, it splinters into three and keeps climbing up the wall. She turns to go but her uncle doesn't follow. He's working his mouth like he has something unpleasant inside but can't spit it out.

"Mirabel..." He hesitates. "I...my visions... they aren't usually...good. And this one..." He gestures at the wall. "I just don't want to make things worse."

"They're about as bad as they can get, Tío."

Bruno reflexively taps the wooden beams three times and then each of their heads. Antonio giggles and lightly thumps his jaguar between the ears in solidarity.

"Ow." Mirabel winces and runs her hand over her crown of her head. Bruno makes to apologize but she waves him off. "I know you're nervous – maybe scared – "

" – terrified – "

" – but I believe in you." She reaches out to grasp his hands and gives a brief squeeze. For a moment, she is so much like her mother that he can't speak.

"Me too!" Antonio reaches up to hug his crooked elbow then tugs on the him of Bruno's ruana until his uncle looks down. "Parce says he believes in you."

Bruno looks mildly exasperated at the jaguar. "You don't get an opinion until you apologize for trying to eat Azúcar y Cafecito."

"He says they're really fat."

"He can watch his diet, and I'll watch theirs."

Mirabel has leads them back down the narrow hall that opens on to the second story, trying to stifle her giggles. She shushes her uncle, her cousin, and the animals and lightly pushes on the back of the painting. For just having had the dinner ruined, the house is exceptionally quiet. Mirabel creeps out onto the landing, taking in the sway of Antonio's door and the small ripples that come to meet Bruno's feet as he climbs out of the wall.

"Looks like another vote of confidence."

Bruno overbalances and loses a sandal in the wall. His reply is muffled as he goes after it. "Casita is overly opinionated for a house. Ouch!"

The painting swings itself around to clap Bruno squarely on the backside. Mirabel and Antonio can't quite contain their laughter and don't hear approaching footsteps until there is a small 'ahem' behind them.

Bruno scrambles behind the potted plants, Antonio behind Mirabel, and Mirabel does her best not to look like she's harboring a fugitive.

Dolores gives them all an ironic grin and holds out a bucket full of shimmering green sand. Bruno swallows then stands to meet her and receive the bucket. She leans in to kiss his cheek. "I believe in you."

All the words he could say get lodged in his throat so he just nods. She lifts her chin towards Antonio's door and says to Mirabel, "I told the others you were in the garden. Hurry up."

Mirabel grabs the bucket of sand and Antonio calls for all his animals. "C'mon, Tío."

"Yeah, uh..." He steals a quick hug from Dolores.

"Mirabel's persistent, isn't she?"

"Almost as bad as you."

Dolores's eyes crinkle at the edges as she returns the hug. "I'll wait up for you."

He kisses her on the nose, wipes away one stray tear, and nods. "It's...it's about time I came home."

"Yes, it is." Her mouth wobbles a little. "You owe me so much hot chocolate."


Author's Note: I had to quote more of the movie that I would normally have liked to in this chapter to help go through Bruno's thoughts/emotions more smoothly, but I hope it worked.

Two chapters left (probably)! I'm going to do my best not to let another one sneak in, but given the word limit I've set myself for each chapter, it could still happen.

As always, I would love to hear your thoughts. Thank you so much for the support! -WW