A/N: I absolutely adore this movie! So, just today, I was sitting there thinking to myself: "I'm gonna write a piece of fanfiction for this!" And with help from feeling horrible for Bruno, this story was born!
Just a quick warning: I'm not Hispanic in any way, and while I took Spanish class in school, I still don't know as much as I would've liked to learn. So if I got something wrong in the story, please forgive me. I tried to do research to the best of my ability, but if there's something in there that I got wrong, please feel free to let me know!
Oh, and wait! Before we start! I know, I know...but I gotta do it: I DO NOT OWN ENCANTO, DISNEY, OR ANY OF THESE CHARACTERS! (Therefore, this is not canon.)
Ok, now that that's out of the way, let's talk about Bruno! ;)
As the door lit up with golden sparkles, Bruno's smile grew in amazement. The five-year-old watched as it formed into a magnificent picture of what he knew his gift would be for the rest of his days. The sound of his two sisters giggling as they focused on their own doors made him glance over at them.
The triplets' mami was watching the whole ceremony with a proud smile, the glowing candle held gently in her hands.
"Mami! Look at mine!"
Bruno heard his sister, Pepa, cry out with joy, and he gasped in wonder as a rainbow appeared above her head. She reached up with a giggle, her tiny fingers hitting the bottom of the glowing colors.
"What a beautiful gift, Pepa," her mami responded, bending down to cup her daughter's face lovingly. As she stood, Pepa threw open her door, her face lighting up even more so when she saw the inside. Bruno couldn't see from his angle, but it was only a matter of time before his sister disappeared into the room.
The second door next to Pepa's swung open as well, and Bruno's attention moved on to his other sister, Julieta, who was staring into her own bedroom with wide eyes. She, too, giggled and ran inside, yelling something about making empanadas for everyone.
Bruno turned back to look at his own door. His smile widened as he opened it, expecting the same results as his sisters, but it disappeared once he saw the inside. It was huge and…empty? Sand covered the ground and there seemed to be dozens of stairs in the distance.
"Is something wrong, Brunito?" his mami said from behind him, startling him slightly.
Bruno gazed up at her, and as soon as his eyes connected with her's, something happened. He gasped as his vision transformed, and his mami's face changed into an angry frown.
"I'm sorry, Mami! I don't know why I upset you!" he cried out, covering his face with his hands as the tears started to well up.
"Why would you think I'm upset with you?" There was concern in his mami's voice. Bruno rubbed his eyes with his hands, sniffed, then glanced up at her. The angry frown had completely disappeared, almost as if it had never been there in the first place.
"You…you looked upset," Bruno answered with another sniff.
"I could never be upset with you, mi hijo," his mami reassured him, bending down to his level and cupping his face with her hands. She gently pulled him forward and placed a kiss on his cheek.
"But—"
It happened again. His mami's face disappeared and he saw Julieta instead. She burst out of her room with a plate full of empanadas, while their mami questioned how she made them so quickly at only having learned to make them once before.
Bruno returned to the present with a gasp. His mami's eyebrows were raised slightly in shock, and he blinked at her.
"Your eyes…" she muttered.
Bruno reached up and covered his eyes, suddenly afraid of what she might mean, his small fingers guarding them protectively.
"They were…green," his mami continued as if in a trance.
"Look, Mami!"
The woman immediately swerved around from where she knelt at the call. Her eyes connected with a grinning Julieta, holding a plate stacked with empanadas in her hands.
"Juliet! How did you…"
Bruno didn't hear the rest of his mami's question. Instead, he gaped at his sister, his mind whirring with many, many questions of his own.
"Are you okay, Bruno?" Julieta's voice brought him out of his mental battle.
Bruno's eyes focused on her face, noticing her grin was gone and she was staring at him as if he had suddenly fainted.
"I saw it!" Bruno exclaimed, turning to his mami and pulling on her sleeve urgently. "I saw it, Mami! I saw Juliet with the empanadas before she came!"
If his mami was only slightly shocked before, her eyes popped as she stared down at him. She quickly stood then moved Bruno's door so she could see the picture on the front. Sure enough, the hourglass on it revealed enough to show her that he was telling the truth.
"You can look into the future?" His mami gazed down at him in amazement.
As it was spoken aloud, Bruno's face once more broke into a smile. He pushed his door so it was fully open once more, then ran into the room, leaving his mami behind to question Julieta about her cooking abilities.
Bruno ran over to the stairs, his giggles accompanying the sound of the shifting sand underneath his feet. His tiny legs took a little longer to get that far, but it wasn't too long before he was standing at the bottom of the steps, grinning from ear to ear, as he stared up at where the steps would eventually lead him to. He couldn't wait to show the town what he could really do.
"What's your gift? What's your gift?"
Bruno's face lit up at the question. "I knew you were gonna ask that," he responded, hoping his best friend would guess what his gift was based on the answer.
"What do you mean?" his friend asked, his head tilting in confusion.
Bruno's eyes sparkled giddily. "I can see into the future," he said, dramatically moving his hands around to give the mysterious effect to his words.
"That sounds so cool!" another small voice joined in their conversation before Bruno's friend could say anything. Both boys turned to see the little girl standing a few feet away, watching them with intrigue in her big brown eyes.
"Thank you." Bruno smiled back at her.
"Can you see something for me?" the little girl asked, walking closer to the two boys.
Bruno could've sworn his feet lifted off of the ground; he was so elated at the opportunity to practice using his gift to help somebody.
"Sure!" he said. With a bit of concentration, his eyes turned from brown to green as the vision began. At first, everything seemed to be okay. There the little girl was, hugging a small glass fishbowl lovingly in her arms. A small goldfish swam within the water, enjoying life as much as a goldfish could. Then, in the blink of an eye, the fish suddenly stilled and flipped around so it was upside down.
Bruno gasped as the vision suddenly ended before he could see the little girl cry. He stared worriedly at the girl in front of him, who only continued to gaze up at him excitedly.
"What did you see?" she asked as soon as his eyes came into focus.
Bruno's eyes shifted down to the ground instead of looking the girl in the eye. "Your…your goldfish…" he stuttered. "It's going to…die. I'm sorry."
"No!" The sudden shout made Bruno flinch, and his eyes shifted up to the little girl's face, though his head remained bowed. "Mami!" she screamed, swerving around and running off, her yells echoing through the still air.
"Bruno…" his friend began.
Bruno followed the first instinct that came to him. He ran. The small sobs broke through his guard as he sprinted through the streets of the town and back to his home. Many concerned people tried to stop him, but Bruno dodged around them and kept going. Castita's front door was open before he could reach it, helping the crying little boy get inside.
"Mami!" Bruno's voice cracked as he called out for the only person he knew could help the second he was past the now closed doorway.
"Brunito! What's the matter, mi hijo?" his mami was by his side in an instant, kneeling in front of the sobbing boy and tenderly lifting his chin so his tear-filled eyes met hers.
"I-I…" Bruno stuttered, a small hiccup making its way past his lips. His mami waited patiently for him to continue. "I didn't mean to t-tell her that…that her fish would d-die. I didn't m-mean to!" he said.
At first, his mami seemed shocked at his words. Then, without a word, she pulled him forward into a hug, wrapping her arms tightly around his small frame. Bruno buried his face into his mami's shoulder, letting himself cry.
It was only two days later that the angry knock came banging at the front door. Bruno hid behind the staircase as his mami opened the door, his two sisters also crowding behind him.
Julieta had already gotten much praise from the town for the five-year-old's ability to turn any bruise, cut, break, or anything of the like as good as new again with a simple treat from her kitchen. Pepa had quickly discovered the existence of the rain or snow cloud that would hover over her head whenever she felt a negative emotion. Her mami had specifically told her to be careful with her emotions, and from then on, the little girl would always need to take deep breaths to prevent yet another hurricane that had occured after Julieta had taken one of her favorite stuffed animals.
Bruno was shaken from his thoughts at the sound of the furious yells coming from the door.
"—and if your son ever comes near my family again, I will not hesitate to administer punishment myself. He killed my daughter's goldfish!"
The angry woman's words made Bruno gasp from his hiding spot. He could feel Julieta's small fingers tighten on his shoulder, and Pepa's small raincloud developing over her head.
"Yes. I understand," the triplets' mami responded calmly. The angry woman turned and stormed away with a huff.
The door closed on its own, very slowly as if Casita herself was upset. Bruno watched his mami turn around, looking directly at their hiding place.
"Bruno!" she called out sternly, her hands on her hips.
Bruno ducked his head and took a hesitant step out from under the staircase, ignoring his sisters' hands trying to pull him back to safety.
"Ven aquí."* The command was direct, and Bruno slowly followed the order, taking small steps in the direction of his mami until he was a foot away from her. She was frowning at him, and Bruno was immediately brought back to the memory of his first vision.
They stood there like that for a good few seconds, then his mami's face relaxed into a sigh. She rubbed her forehead tiredly. "I don't know what else you have told people, Bruno, but this was not what our miracle was meant for."
"I'm sorry, Mami," Bruno whispered, staring down at his fidgeting hands in front of him.
His mami knelt down in front of him just like every other time, using her hand to lift his face once more. "I don't want you to use your gift again until we can find a way to make it more useful to the people in this town. Okay?"
Bruno forced his eyes to remain dry and his chin to remain still. He nodded obediently.
"Thank you. Now, did you tell anyone anything else?"
Bruno thought back to the few people he had talked to, one of them being his friend, and he shook his head in answer.
"Good." His mami stood without another word and moved on, walking around him.
Bruno stared down at his hands once more. He sniffed once, then heard his sisters cry out in surprise. He turned around just in time to see Casita pushing them along with a wave of her tiles, his eyebrows raising as he watched them come closer to him without their consent. It was only a matter of seconds before they both toppled onto him with an "oof!"
The two girls giggled together on the ground, both piled on top of their brother. It was then that Bruno allowed a small smile to break through his frown as his sisters beamed down at him.
"Let's play hide and go seek!" Julieta suggested after a moment.
"Okay!" Pepa exclaimed.
"You can count first, Juliet," Bruno said, his smile widening. He knew the perfect hiding spot where neither of his sisters would ever find him. With the specific picture frame just upstairs in his mind's eye, he imagined the secret passageway that it provided. Julieta would never find him there.
Having to keep too many secrets as the years went by didn't help Bruno in the slightest. As time passed, he would make mistake after mistake, letting things slip without his meaning to. Like the time he had told that boy that if he kept eating like he was, he would end up fat.
Bruno could always feel his mami's eyes on him, watching him to make sure he wouldn't slip up. He would internally panic whenever someone asked him a question or even looked at him strangely.
Luckily, by the time he was ten years old, he had already learned how to turn his visions into green-tinted glass pictures, if only to prove that what he was seeing wasn't just him putting a curse on them.
"Bruno!"
Bruno flinched at his sister's screech. "Pepa, I didn't mean for it to—"
"No! You listen to me." Pepa's cloud had grown to the point where it was near a full-on hurricane. Even the trees waved unsteadily when she passed them. "Why would you do something like this to me? It's my wedding day, Bruno!"
Bruno squinted as the rain and strong winds came into contact with him, his green ruana whipping violently around his shoulders.
"I'm meeting Félix in front of that crowd in less than ten minutes," she panicked to herself, pacing in small circles as the strong winds blew her white dress around. "I can't present myself like this!"
"I'm sorry," Bruno mumbled. He turned around before walking out of the heavy rain. With one final glance over his shoulder, he noticed that Pepa hadn't even noticed he had left, too worked up in her own storm.
Bruno watched with wide eyes as the door started fading from top to bottom, the golden lines disappearing with it. He stood on the ground floor with the rest of the crowd. The people around him began to gasp at what they saw, and Bruno's gaze remained fixated on the little girl as she turned to her abuela—Bruno's own mami.
Both of his little niece's parents were at their daughter's side in seconds, asking her questions that Bruno couldn't hear from the bottom of the stairs and trying to comfort the confused girl.
Abuela turned to the crowd of murmuring people, holding up her arms for silence and addressing them instantly. "I am sorry for the confusion! We will figure out what is going on, but in the meantime, we ask that you all return to your homes and sleep well tonight. I hope to have an answer in the morning. Feel free to take whatever food you brought with you."
Bruno's attention returned to his young niece, Mirabel, standing still at the top of the stairs. She was staring straight ahead at nothing, her face stuck in a mask of concern behind those big round glasses. He felt his heart break at the sight.
Casita, please. Not little Mira, he thought to himself desperately. But Casita didn't know of his inner worries. How Mirabel would grow up different from all the others in her family. How one wrong move could destroy a little heart, just like it had his own.
"Brunito."
The voice was so soft, Bruno almost missed it. He blinked a few times, looking around himself in shock when he realized that everyone was gone. How long had he been standing there?
"Brunito?" The voice said again, this time questioning.
Bruno's eyes focused on his mami, his shoulders immediately hunching slightly as the woman approached him. "Yes, Mami?"
"I want you…no, I need you to do something for me," she said, an urgency coming into her voice that Bruno had never heard from her before. He nodded for her to continue. "I need you to look into the future and see what this might mean."
Bruno's eyes widened slightly. "I—"
"Please, mi hijo?" his mami asked, her eyes revealing her fear.
Bruno swallowed, then nodded without a word.
"Thank you." He saw his mami's shoulder's relax slightly, the candle still held protectively in her hands. She then walked away, leaving Bruno alone at the bottom of the stairs. He glanced up at the spot where Mirabel's door was supposed to be, and he sighed. This was going to be a long night for all of them.
The sound of glass breaking disrupted the silence of his vision cave. Bruno turned and walked away from the green shards that buried themselves in the sand, his jaw set as his final decision was made. There was no way he would share that particular vision with anyone. Not if he could help it. But how could he possibly keep them from figuring it out?
Bruno thought for a moment, when an idea suddenly struck him. The implications of it made his heart grow heavy, but there was no other way. Besides, the only person it would really harm was himself, so what did he have to lose?
He had to leave. Permanently.
Of course, he wouldn't be able to move completely away from his family, that was simply too much. He would remain close while keeping enough distance so he wouldn't hurt anyone else.
It was a win-win situation for everyone in that case. No one would have to worry about his visions anymore, and he didn't have to get Mirabel into any more trouble than she was already in. Bruno had a good idea of the true meaning to his vision of her with the cracks in Casita behind her, but he also knew that no one else would see it that way.
Bruno was aware that his mother would be waiting for him the next morning to hear of what he had seen, so he had to move fast. After packing all that he could into a single bag, Bruno slipped out of his room, closing the door silently behind himself. He snuck across the walkway, stopping when he reached the picture frame. Carefully, he reached out and pried it away from the wall.
It opened up to reveal the dark inner walls of Casita. With the right arrangements, Bruno knew he could turn the walls into his new home.
After taking one last look over his shoulder into the dark open area, Bruno stepped past the frame and into the walls, closing his new door behind him. He was aware that he would probably never come out again, and even though his entire body wept with the idea of it, he would do anything to protect those he cared about.
It had been five years since he had moved into the walls. Bruno couldn't even count how many times he had heard the words, "We don't talk about Bruno!" from family and friends alike while they were in the dining room. While the words made the hurt inside of him grow bit by bit every time they were said, he knew it was all for the best. Whenever he heard a laugh from one of his sisters or the playful banter between his nieces and nephew from behind that wall, he smiled to himself.
He had his own plate set out—well, painted—on the small wooden table, so he wasn't missing too much. He simply couldn't join in on their conversations, is all. No big deal.
Bruno had the rats to keep him company, and that was all he really needed. As he ate the lovely empanadas and other treats that his little animal friends would bring him, he felt in those moments like he was still a part of the family that was just on the other side of that wall. He could see them, watching the children grow and his sister, Pepa, bringing yet another little boy into the picture. Another child to give a gift to, just as Abuela had secretly wanted after the failed ceremony with Mirabel.
It was perfect just the way it was. It was perfect because Bruno had left, and as he heard the laughs that drifted through the wall, he wouldn't have it any other way.
Bruno sat at the dining table with the rest of his family for the first time in more than ten years, his plate physically there and his chair matching everyone else's. He looked around the many faces surrounding him and couldn't keep his eyes dry.
Mirabel sat on his right, eating her food proudly in their new home. He felt a hand grasp his own from where it rested on top of the table, and he glanced over to his left at his mami, who smiled warmly at him. Bruno returned the gesture, quickly wiping the back of his other hand across his eyes to remove the tears before they fell.
"So, Tío Bruno…" Bruno's attention was brought to his nephew, Camilo, who was smirking at him. "...what do you think of this?"
Bruno nearly choked on his own spit as the teen transformed into Bruno himself, but instead of the brown eyes, he had the green that would come whenever Bruno had a vision. Bruno glanced over at Mirabel when he heard her facepalm. Camilo instantly changed back to his proper form, eyeing his uncle with slight regret.
"It's okay, Camilo," Bruno said, noticing the look in his nephew's eyes. "I'm impressed."
Camilo's expression relaxed at the praise, then turned back to his mountain of food. Bruno watched Mirabel out of the corner of his eye, noting her smile. From the very beginning, he had been so afraid of ruining her life by sharing what he had seen in the vision cave that fateful day all those years ago. Oh, how wrong he had been.
For the first time since he had started having his visions, Bruno had seen the result of the most important one of them all. Little did he know that the very thing that kept him away was the needed missing piece in the puzzle to bring his family back together, even better than before.
Bruno had done it. After all of those years of struggling, his vision had brought about a good result. He was back, and nothing could ever make him leave again.
*I'm not sure if this is the correct way to say it, but I did as much research as I could, and that's what I came up with. I was trying to say "come" in a commanding tone from a parent, so I hope I got it right!
A/N: Thank you so much for reading! I've only gone through it once, so I'm not sure of any mistakes, but feel free to let me know if you spot anything. :)
I personally think that a little 5-year-old getting this...power?...for the first time wouldn't have much of a filter. So it makes sense that these things would happen in my mind. I wanted to write more about the town going against him because he didn't know any better and spoke about what he saw, but it was becoming too much.
I haven't really read many other fanfictions based on Encanto, so I actually don't know if this type of story has been done previously. Though it wouldn't surprise me if it had already been done. So if I copied anything that was already done, I didn't know about it. Just a little disclaimer there just in case. XD
Whoo! This is getting long! Anyway, thanks again for reading through all of this! I hope you guys enjoyed, leave a review if you can, and I hope to continue to write on here in the future! (As well as update my other story...oops.)
