Encanto: Familiar Stranger

Chapter 2: Let´s talk about Bruno!

Bruno´s Pov:

Rhum….

Pepa, my dearest Sister you were right, it heals your heart and takes your mind on a long trip…, and sometimes it makes you speak the truth, as ugly as it sometimes is…

"You told me my fish would die and the next day he was dead…" There she stood, with that accusing look in her face.

The same old damn Glass bowl in her hands, the skeleton of a fish was lying at the dirty sand.

The smell was…, lets be honest rotten was not even enough to describe this kind of stench.

"….., Are you for real right now?" I asked that woman, that damn Valentina Pezmuerto.

"Yes, I am, how could you kill my fish, my dear sweet little Fernandinho, how dare you murder him…" She stated as she stared, with literal dead fish eyes, at me.

This woman bore a grudge against me…, that was nothing new in the Encanto…, but this woman…, she was special…, and not in the good kind of way.

She was persistent, spiteful, nasty-tongued, and completely and utterly nuts…, crazy…, she was the epitome of braindead.

This woman really ran around since over 10 years…, with her dead fish in a bowl of rotten water…, telling everybody who had the unfortunate privilege to hear her…, the story of how I murdered her fish…, apparently.

I can remember everything from the damn first words of the conversation, about the future of her fish…, to the moment she first accused me of murder.

…., Who in their right mind would call a fortune-teller, to determine the fate of their Pet-Fish.

There is just so much a pet-keeper can go crazy over their pet, before they become a case for the madhouse, this woman…, she surely was well beyond that.

"You do realize you just a crappy keeper, otherwise your Fernandinho might not have died in the first place…, although Goldfishes are known not to live for long in captivity anyways, so it was really just a matter of time…, your bad it happened earlier than anticipated." I stated with equal dead eyes back.

"Your prediction killed my fish." Pezmuerto stated persistently.

"Alright, alright, Valentina…, for the last freaking time in hopefully the next century…, my predictions are just that, predictions, it are images of the possible future, sometimes it is inevitable due to circumstances, out of anyone´s hand and sometimes you can still twerk them in your favor.

Now, to come to the point…, your Fish was old, it was sitting all day in a damn tiny glass bowl, without so much as a circulation of the water, to give t some oxygen, you fed it only the same things, every single day of the year, you stressed the poor thing out by literally pressing your face onto its bowl, in the morning and in the evening.

but even worse than all of that, is the very fact that you thought it would be a good idea to place the damn bowl in 5 meters close to your oven.

the poor guy was literally cooked in its glass bowl, what the hell did you expect would happen?

This fish was doomed to die, not because of my prediction, but because…, of…, you!

You are, were and most likely will remain obsessed with that fish.

The fish was beyond just stressed, it suffered a heart attack, after your `care´, once you heard my verdict.

You literally freaked out over my words, over a prediction of a possible future, a future you could have influenced by changing yourself, and the way you care about your fish.

But instead, you only made things worse for him so that the stress became too great and it perished, and ever since you make me responsible for the mistakes you made, because you don´t feel responsible for your own crap." I explained to her.

The look she gave me would have been priceless, if it were any funny.

She looked at me like a maniac.

"I will make you confess; I will make you take responsibility…, I am so short from finding the ultimate evidence." She stated with a dead stare at me.

Good luck finding anything after over 10 years.

"And I am so short before punching you in the face, Pezmuerto…, so you better piss off, or else my hand might slip." I stated as my patience ran out, this woman cannot and will not listen to anything or anyone but herself.

"You would really hit a woman…, I always knew you were an enemy of the Encanto." She stated as she looked at me in shock and disgust.

"Hitting a woman…, you are right, that would be a crime indeed, then again, committing such a crime would require for me to see you as such a woman…, but honestly, for me you hardly act like a human being, so it might be fine." I replied with dry sarcasm.

"Youuu, I swear I will bring you down." She stated as she was about to stomp off.

"Just try it and see what you get, missy." I replied as I yawned in annoyance, which made her even madder.

Talking to this woman sure was exhausting.

"Mark my words, Bruno Madrigal…."

"And we are done here, goodbye!" I stated as I closed the window, at which I stood and at which she unfortunately had seen me, right in her face.

Since my tower crumbled to dust along with the rest of the house, I as well as all the others were all in need of a new house.

Anyways, as a result, my room was now back between Julietta's and Pepa´s room, while each of their families possessed one half of the house, me and Mother were having both the middle of the House.

My room was no longer a cave with long and high rock-stairs, but very much how it used to be, a simple Oasis with a huge tent, enough sand for my rituals and tranquility to keep my mind off of thinking whenever I needed it.

It was comfortable and warm, all I ever wanted or needed and my rats were also there with me, having each gotten a small house to live in, it was like a little rat-village.

The inside of the Tent looked almost identical to how my mancave used to look all those ten years long.

In regard to the recent events, my old room was not habitable anyways, even if Casita would have not crumbled down and I had to admit, even in the years before me vanishing, I came to despise my room, which was a reflection of myself, of how much I loathed for people to come to me and ask me about their future, only for them to later on blame me for it.

The stairs were meant to demotivate them halfway through and make them turn around, dealing with things when they happen, rather than knowing them beforehand.

The only downside of it, was that I had to walk the same stairs as well.

Unfortunately, I had no idea how to build a functioning lift to take me up, without making it accessible for other people as well.

Something like face or DNA recognition was yet not invented, no that I think that the little bit of technology my mother once told me about, would have developed so fast, even in 50 years.

But as worse as my old room was, this room also had a downside, that was the fact, that it was build towards the street side, right above the entrance, which meant that if I stood at the window, or on my balcony, people who passed by could always see me.

And sometimes it enticed them to confront me about predictions I made prior to 10 years ago before I vanished, predictions even I could not remember well, just like Senora Valentina Pezmuerto and her dumb dead fish.

"Gosh this woman really knows how to get on my nerves…, and that so early in the morning." I muttered to myself as I dressed in my ruana and made my way downstairs for breakfast.

Unfortunately, she was not the only one with a lingering grudge against me.

It was now exactly a month, since I, Bruno Madrigal, returned in the embrace of my family.

And let me say, in that one month, I had to endure the whole shit of the last ten years, compressed in a few days, so many accusations, so many problems for which I was apparently responsible, dead fishes, people turning obese, people losing their hair…

I admit, I might have predicted a lot in my life, but let´s be honest, with a little work and effort, anyone can turn their fate around.

But it always seemed to me, as if the people of this town had become completely dependent on the Gifts of the Madrigal Family, so much that they literally forgot how to live on their own, how life had been, before the gifts even appeared in the first place.

In the last ten years, after isolating myself, I once more, as I had already often done so, had time to think about my gift, analyze it, trying to figure out, why to me it felt more like a curse, rather than a gift.

What was my gift truly for…, to predict the death of pet fishes?

To predict how anyone would end up in their future life?

Married, single, obese, hairless?

Even before all the drama with Mirabel´s gift-ceremony, the aftermath of my mother asking me to see the future…, me seeing the doom that awaited and deciding to leave, rather than to confront this fate and maybe getting Mirabel in trouble with mother, before the poor girl would even be old enough to understand, things hadn´t been easy for me.

I must confess that I had my fair share of bullying and abuse in my life, verbal and physical, and unfortunately, the older I got, the less I had the support of Pepa and Julietta.

Not because they liked me less than before, but more because I grew up, sure I was the youngest of us three, but I too grew up.

I was a man and as such I was supposed to handle my own battles, unless they were too hard for one person to fight.

Not to mention that both Julietta and Pepa had found the love of their lives and started families…

Obviously, they had far better things to do than to defend their little brother, they kind of still supported me…, well before Pepa´s wedding was going down the drain, literally.

But let´s be real here.

You cannot even make a joke about sweating and raining, without her freaking out and causing a hurricane to be unleashed…., luckily I could make her understand, that in the end she did most of that herself, even Felix was on my side in that matter, he even admitted that he had intended to make the same joke.

But I beated him to the punch…, and that was the difference.

While he was known as the sunshine itself, who could easily make a small joke without causing trouble, I was known as doom and gloom Bruno, the villainous fortuneteller, the harbinger of chaos and corruption.

There were a lot names I had been called in my life and none of them hurted any less than the other.

But it was a fact that everything I saw was to come true, one way or another, and everything that came true, was often or mostly associated with the misfortune of others…

So tell me, someone, anyone…, was it really a gift, to see only bad things?

When will I see something happy, something truly great, something that would excite the entire Encanto, rather than make them despair?

I could look into the future, to see how Dolores marriage with Mariano Guzman would go…, but I feared to see something bad and accidently let her hear it.

If she were to know beforehand, that something like that might happen, she might despair already now, and later it is said that I ruined her marriage, just like with Pepa, the apple does not fall from the tree after all.

My Gift hardly ever helped the family and it earned me more spite than praise…

And so, I rearranged the rules…

No more predictions for totally useless themes, things that can be avoided even without knowing the future beforehand.

No more fortune telling for those, who do not appreciate what they are being told.

If someone was to have his or her fortune read, she will have to accept my prediction, whether good or bad, what that person is to do with that knowledge, is up to them.

And of course, my favorite, from now on I charge the people, for predictions that are not meant for the wellbeing of the entire Encanto, but only for personal gain.

and my services don´t come cheap…

And most important of all...

I will only make predictions, when there is something terribly wrong, something that might indeed become a disaster in near future.

Like back in Mirabel´s case, when Casita refused to give her a door and a gift and everybody feared that the Magic of the Candle would be fading away.

I know, back then I should have told anyone something, maybe just to Julieta, who was her mother after all, but there was always the high possibility of my sobrina Dolores hearing me and telling everybody…, to be honest that is what I kind of found annoying at her.

Don´t get me wrong, I love Dolores like I love everybody in the family…, but there are just somethings she isn´t supposed to hear.

Most of the time, Dolores was quiet, but surely listening in to at least 10 conversations, she knew secrets and the dirty underwear of everyone.

She knew who had any bodies in the cellar and who was faithful or not.

She heard everything…, and that did made some people afraid…, I was kind of always wondering and fearing, that she would one day be just as hated and avoided or bullied as I was, luckily it never got that far, not to the least due to her mother, who was watching over her with eagle eyes when Dolores was young.

And we all knew not to mess with Pepa.

On the other hand, there was also Dolores character in itself, there were things she did not say and things she simply blurted out whenever she felt, that it was necessary…, most of the time I kind of had the impression, that she only ever truly told something, she heard about, flat out, when it somehow benefited herself.

Then, when it was most convenient.

Which meant that what she heard might not always be the entire truth.

This could sometimes be seen as either mean and arrogant, or just plain self-serving…, and sometimes as considerate and kind.

But I was certain, in some way, Dolores was the third most feared Madrigal, me being second and Pepa logically being first.

Because different than us, Pepa did not hold back, neither her words nor her punches.

She was a force of nature to be reckoned; everybody knew that and everybody knew, not to entice her wrath.

Then again, back in the case of Mirabel, Dolores might have been so shaken, that she unwillingly had to blurt things out, even if she could have just kept it to herself, letting things unfolding, uncaring of the consequences.

On the other hand, she kept my secret for 10 years, never telling anyone about me still being around, just invisible to the naked eye.

I had yet to properly thank her for that, mere words just weren´t enough.

If we talk about gifts and their benefit and drawbacks for the society of the Encanto as a whole, we could roughly sort them out in 3 categories.

Useful all the time.

Useful in the moment.

And last but not least, hardly useful unless for one self.

Julieta, Louisa and Antonio´s gifts were in category 1, being useful all the time.

Julieta could heal even the worst injuries with a heartful meal, on the other hand it also meant that she had to be almost constantly at cooking, since the people of the Encanto kind of tend to be reckless with themselves, knowing very well that a mere Arepa of her could heal them…, I still wonder why no one has died from recklessness, because of that mentality.

Then again, this way she also met Augustine who was always danger-prone and falling into every pit available.

Louisa is super strong, we all know that and have seen that, the older she got the stronger and tougher she became, but as we have seen also vulnerable psychically.

The stronger her body grew, the weaker her self-esteem got, since she depended the most on her gift, thinking for the longest of her life, that without it, she would have run out her purpose and usefulness for everyone.

Although Antonio had his gift since only recently, it was estimated that he could to a degree control the Animals around him, which was surely helping in the towns problem with the escaping donkeys, which would take one burden off of his cousins shoulders.

But also, the wildlife of the Jungle could be tamed as well, if necessary.

Infront of Antonio, every animal bows, unless they were in pure rage.

A couple of days ago, a bear that had been injured and in rage, almost sliced him up, if Louisa would not have had knocked it down, for Julietta to heal them both.

In the end the bear apologized and went back into the forest.

Since he could not just understand them, but to a certain degree also command them to do things, his gift was seen as a blessing.

Of course, that depended on how strong the will of the animal itself was.

That were the gifts in category one.

In category 2 we had, Isabella and Camillo, as well as Pepa.

Isabella could let flowers bloom and entice the growth of other plants as well; however, she had yet not tried it out with edible plants, such as fruits and vegetables or even crops.

She explained it so, as them being yet too complex for her to understand, which gave a nice insight in how her powers work…, for her to conjure plants, she has to gradually understand them, know how they look like in great detail and how they grow and thrive to become the flower she wishes to bloom.

To be honest many of our gifts were greatly influenced by our willpower, the stronger it is the stronger our control over our gifts.

Until now she only ever looked at pretty flowers and didn´t cared so much for Fruits and vegetables other than directly eating them, which could have helped the Encanto even more, than her generating endless streams of flowers.

Though in her defense this was because of Mother endlessly putting pressure on her perfect golden child…, if she were to suddenly let edible plants bloom, was she then later on not any different from a better farmhand with a gift, even if she just kept generating flowers she was but a simple florist with a special gift?

Therefore, were her powers only really useful when sprouting flowers or when making a bouquet was required, like bridal bouquets, mourning bouquets, decorations for festival and celebrations and so on…

However, ever since she broke out of her perfect shell, with her beginning to experiment with her gift, she might soon find a way to let edible plants grow in everyone's garden and on the fields, not just fruits and vegetables, also crops, like wheat, rice, sugarcane, corn and so on, even edible nuts on trees, or mushrooms in the forest, there were a ton of edible plants she could grow.

Agriculture would become so much easier if she did and she would directly help the Encanto, like Mother always wished us to do.

Camillo on the other hand…, well Camillo was a jester, he liked to impersonate people, especially if it helped in his shenanigans, in these moments, his gifts is more self-serving and could be switched into category 3, though it made him also question his own value at times.

he often lamented the fact that most of the time he was required to turn into someone else rather than remaining himself when tasked with something, like when hanging up decorations for Antonio's gift ceremony, rather than asking him to bring a ladder, to help himself, he was requested by Mother, to turn into someone else, someone taller than him who could help.

He didn´t showed it, but I could hear him lament over it in his own room.

Being invisible within the walls, lets me hear almost as much of the family, as Dolores does…

Him being requested to transform into someone when need is there, in order to accomplish something, those moments then again belong to category 2…, useful in the moment.

Pepa…, well Pepa was a special case in Category 2, since her powers could be both blessing and curse.

If the Encanto needed rain for growing crops and edible plants, my Sister was required to make it rain, which in return meant that she had to be unhappy, or sad, or devastated.

If sunshine was needed, she had to be happy all the time, which, as a mother and a woman in her 50´s, was anything but easy.

Her mood affected the weather…, this was not just a phrase but her whole life, just a single waver in her demeanor, or something that displeased her and it was over with sunshine and summer breezes.

If she was really pissed, she could be as cold as a blizzard, if she was asleep, the weather remained neutral, unless she had a nightmare, then the weather turned completely crazy.

Felix had to feel that more than often, so much, that Pepa suggested that we would get a room built by Casita.

But of course, Felix being the Man of men, he refused to leave his wife´s side, even in her Nightmares.

We had rainbows for about two hours after that statement, before somebody in the Encanto had to mess things up again, angering her and unleashing a day-long downpour.

Since her powers were unfortunately unstable like her mood, they were only ever useful in that moment, when they unleashed to the right time at the right place.

Then came Category 3.

The category where the gifts did not really benefit anyone but the person itself.

Dolores and my own Gift.

As I already mentioned before, Dolores hears everything from a mile away, which means she has dirt on anyone of us, and she knows how and when to use it.

My gift on the other hand…., well we all have seen where that lead to.

It might be useful for others if they know the future before a great calamity hits them, but if they cannot handle it and begin to despair and crumble infront of the inevitable, from their prospective at least, then my gift was the least useful for anyone else.

As I said, sometimes my Gift feels more like a curse.

Then again…, if people were to learn to work on preventing these predictions to come true, the same way Mirabel did it, then maybe things might turn out different.

After all, the future I predict in that moment, is to come true if no one prevents it from happening.

In Senora Pezmuerto´s case, I foretold her that her goldfish was about to die, in a natural way, but who knows what he in the end truly died from, once she went back home?

Maybe overzealous care?

To my understanding, there was a bet going on between the younger generation of the Madrigal family, about how Senora Pezmuerto´s fish really died.

If she weren´t annoying me with that fish since so long, I would actually have an ounce of mercy for her…, and if I weren´t a responsible adult, I would be all gung-ho about the bet as well…

"I swear to Dio, waking up to meeting that woman just messed up my entire morning, it made me think way too much." I muttered to myself as I went into the Kitchen for breakfast.

Julietta was already up and running, baking bread for breakfast.

The sight of it was something so nostalgic that it almost drove tears in my eyes.

secretly I often thought to myself, that if I ever met a woman I would like to marry she had to be at least halfway similar to Julietta, that did not mean, that I was in love with my sister, mind you…

It was her motherly care that pleased me greatly, her forgiving, kind and understanding nature.

"Hey sis, good morning…, hmm these sure smell nice, got olives and onions in there, am I right?" I asked her as a very pleasant fragrance filled my nose.

"Of course, just how you like it." Julietta replied with that motherly care she often showed to people.

She was the oldest of us three by an hour and although physically none of us would be any different, we kind of always depended on her, not just her gift, but simply as an older sister.

Pepa was more the tomboy of us, back in our youth, always running around getting in all kinds of trouble, and both Julietta and myself mostly along with her, trying to control the damage she could possibly cause.

though I have to admit, before I became shy and gloomy I too tented to get in trouble fairly often, even without her, or when I made the plans, we then executed, myself.

but after many years of backstabbed, abused and bullied, I tended to stay in the background as much as I could, since my presence most of the time frightened and enraged the other children, I had not many friends to begin with or anyone else out of the family that really cared about me but a few people.

Even though most of the Encanto was against me, neither Julietta nor Peppa ever truly cared about my reputation, we were always together, we were just siblings after all…

Back then the pressure of our gifts and the critical gaze of the Citizens was not yet as heavy, as before 10 years…, it were easier, happier times.

Pepa was totally different from that, as I said she used to be a tomboy, but nowadays she was a mother-hen, an emotional trainwreck at times and sometimes a sailor, cussing and fighting if she had to.

She was strong, fierce, unforgiving and right out hurtful in one moment and in the next careful, kind, respectful and forgiving.

Even evident today, back then she took no shit from other people, and seemed to always move on her own pace.

If someone was stupid enough to piss her off, they surely had it coming, even without her gift, Pepa was strong, stronger than both Julietta and I together, both physically as well as psychically.

However, this obviously did not mean, that she was invulnerable.

She had layers, like onions, and those layers were each accompanied with a weather-phenomenon, so you could easily tell in what kind of mood she really was.

She could not even lie about it, her lying was always exposed since her gift easily betrayed her if she could not hold her emotions in check and believe me, she had a hard time doing so, hence why people quickly became afraid of her.

Maybe that is the reason of why she always defended me when I was wrongly accused of some things, right up until her wedding day, when it all went downhill.

Marriages and Funerals were always hard on Pepa, since she had to keep her mood as neutral as possible unless she wanted to cause a disaster unconsciously.

In our youth this might have been easy to forgive but the older she got the more unforgiving the people got, if their special days were ruined by Pepa´s mood swings, just like she was unforgiving to me, when her own wedding got messed up.

In our youth Pepa quickly learned that keeping herself in check was nearly impossible, so she didn´t even truly tried it, unless something important, like a funeral came up, she then was to behave her best and Mother was there to make sure she did.

Of course that was not always entirely possible, as I said, keeping yourself neutral at weddings and funerals was just impossible to her, then she too often just let her emotions go, even if that meant that she might let it rain, especially if she was upset over the death of a beloved citizen she knew and loved herself, like back when `Old Man´ Senor Marcelo died.

He was one of the eldest persons in the Encanto during our youth and always had a gentle smile on his face, he just happened to be Felix´s grandfather and in a way, he was the happiest when he saw his only grandchild with Pepa, once both began to hang out together, gradually falling in love with each other.

The support he showed to them both, made him Pepa´s favorite and in a way, to her, he might have been a father replacement.

He would be 120 this year, if it weren´t for the incurable decease he suffered on.

He died 5 years after we got our gifts and had yet no direct idea what they were all about, or how to really control them, after all it were the first time anyone in the Encanto had witnesses Magic, that one of us could control to some degree.

But it lasted very long before we three even managed to take the brunt of using our gifts, I know the first time I predicted something it came like a crashing wave over me, it was like a blackout, all I know was that at one moment I stood and in the next I laid in my bed, my mother and siblings at my side, all concerned.

None of us had a real idea what happened, all I knew was that Senor Marcelo was about to die in the next few days.

After all, back then, neither mine nor Julietta´s power did show themselves physically unless they activated, in her case only when she cooked, different from Pepa´s, which was depended on her mood and were always active.

Julietta´s room, which she got when we turned 5 and absolved the Gift-Ceremony, has a huge kitchen, equipped with everything she needed to cook something, she even had a garden in her Room and a Small stone Cottage, where she and Augustine lived nowadays.

Back then she began to cook, as she had always loved cooking with mom, so her having gotten a huge kitchen was like an obvious wink, like casita saying `go cook something up´.

Once she was done, she gave us all an Arepa she had cooked and through her magic, Pepa´s injury, a small scar on her arm she got the day before, vanished completely, that's when we found out that she could literally heal through a meal.

This gave her logically instantly, after I told them my prediction, the idea to cook something for Senor Marcelo, which she did and wanted to bring it to him.

He ate the special soup she made, but it did not helped, he was not healed, his sickness was still there, but he told us that the pain from it had become easier to bear.

Through this explanation, Julietta understood that she could not heal what she did not understand or knew and could see.

Pepa´s scar was clearly visible, but Senor Marcelo´s incurable decease was deep within him, something that had nested in his body somewhere and it affected his health.

But instead of being distraught that his life could not be saved, even with help of Julietta´s gift, Senor Marcelo was happy, happy that we still tried it, that he had a place in our hearts, that he was so close to us that we would try anything to heal him and save his life.

"Ageing is something we cannot change nor reverse, the wounds done by growing older cannot easily be cured like new and fresh ones, they have edged themselves deep within our bodies, our body and mind has grown around them.

We grow up with our wounds, growing older while bearing them and they remind us of the fact that we are alive, that we have had a history before today." That were his words and as sad as the situation was, his words resounded in every one of us.

The very next day Senor Marcelo was found by his family, having died in his sleep the night before, peacefully with a smile on his face.

This devastated Julietta so much that she decided to cook at every free time, in order to learn and get better, so that one day, if something similar were to happen, she would be able to heal it this time.

Ever since she was cooking, day in and day out, even when she was taking care of her own kids.

In my eyes she demanded far too much from herself, sure healing sick people was a noble gesture, but sometimes age just means that a person could die at any time, there is no remedy against time after all, just like Senor Marcelo said.

"No one lives forever." I thought to myself, as I looked at her with gentle eyes.

"What…?" She asked amused, as she recognized me staring.

"I´m just so glad to have you, your mere presence is a remedy for all the bad things I encountered and will encounter in life." I said to her as I embraced her.

"Oh my, where did that come from…?" She chuckled as she responded with an embrace of her own.

After all, we had to catch up on 10 years' worth of hugging and being beside each other.

While Pepa and I often fought in our youth, Julietta and I went by fairly easy, we never truly had any major fights and the small scuffles we occasionally had, were mostly when none of us three were of the same opinion.

Though I would like it very much if it had been Julietta, I still had to admit, that the one to be most sad about my long absence, was Pepa.

But she had to keep it in, the entire pain of losing me, knowing that if she did unleash it, she would most likely cause a monsoon for several days maybe weeks or months.

She feigned indifference a best as she could, which made her sour every time someone mentioned my mere name, knowing she could not let go of her feelings but also not let them out.

And so the `we don´t talk about Bruno´ was born, which was of course fueled by lies rumors and hearsay about all the things I apparently have done, adding to Pepa´s mood.

She was like a barrel of Blackpowder and my mere name was the match to trigger it´s explosion.

Julietta obviously was worried, but different to both of us she never truly had to go through any trouble due to the citizens, she was celebrated and loved, sometimes even pitied by the other children for having both me and Pepa as siblings.

Pepa on the other hand had to go through similar things like me before she met Felix, which meant that she knew basically anything that went through me, when I was shutting myself in my room.

When I was dealing with things alone.

More than often she took matters in her own hand and called for retribution on my behalf, even when I did not asked her for it, since most of the time this kind of backfired, when I was later on mobbed even more by those seeking retaliation, for the beating Pepa gave them.

Which in response made Pepa even madder, effectively creating a devil´s circle.

Julietta always reprimanded her but to Pepa, I simply was the annoyingly weak little brother she had to defend, because beside everything, we were still family.

Even Today, 50 years after our birth this still happened…, and I was most grateful that she still felt like that.

But through ten years of isolation, as well as impersonation to not go insane, though I might already be in a way, I also managed to gain a thicker fur.

Now I too could dish out, if I had to take insults and beatings in.

So whatever made her have a sour mood, first thing in the morning, I was to 50% certain, it had something to do with me.

"Ugh, how can you guys be so happy early in the morning, I just had the worst start in the day, having to argue with that dumb Bitch Pestmuertos." Pepa explained, as she looked at us, once entering the kitchen with heavy stomps.

Mood sour, a sparking thundercloud above her head, a bottle of Rhum in her hand.

"She´s called Valentina Pezmuerto and she might be unique and a little on the strange side, but she is definitely not a dumb Bitch Pepa, also…, this, right before Breakfast…, really?" Julietta asked as she pointed at the bottle in Pepa´s clutched fist.

"A little strange and unique?

You stretch the truth way too much Julie.

Also, you really should be grateful, it is either this or a complaint for assault." Pepa replied, as she took a huge chug of her bottle, much to Julietta's annoyance and disappointment.

"That woman should just piss off, seriously, she stands infront of the house every single day, early in the morning, for at least half an hour, trying to get a glimpse of Bruno, before finally getting lost.

If I wouldn´t know it better, I would think she became a lovestruck stalker." Pepa stated.

"Don´t you dare give me that kind of Head-cinema…" I stated enraged, the last thing I needed was the thought of me and Pezmuerto in a relationship.

"Gimme that!" I stated demandingly as I tried to pull the Rhum out of her hands.

"Ey, get your own booze." She replied annoyed, shoving me aside.

"I would if there was any in the house you haven´t gotten your hands on already, now give me that, my morning was just as ruined as yours by that Pest." I stated as I once more tried my luck and this time, she simply handed the bottle over.

"Geez fine, can´t complain with that." She stated when she walked to the sink, turned around and leaned on it, snooping one of the arepas Julietta had just made.

"At least wash your hand before touching the food, Sis." Julietta explained.

"Yeah, yeah." Pepa simply replied.

"Good lord, what am I supposed to do with you two?" Julietta stated as she puffed up her cheeks and looked aside with crossed arms.

This was her playfully pouting.

"Giving us hugs and head pats…, maybe." I suggested.

"Sorry but those you have to earn, I ain´t giving them out for free, you know." Julietta replied with a smirk.

"I see, anyways, about Mirabel´s big day today…, shouldn´t you go wake her up?" I asked her.

"Casita can you, I kind of got my hands full here and Mirabel isn´t much of an early riser, especially not when she made decorations until 2 in the morning, Casita had to literally force her to bed." she stated.

"I see, if you want, I can see if I can wake her, Casita has already all hands to do to decorate the place." I replied.

"Wow, you really dote on your niece, don´t you?" Pepa exclaimed.

"Do I see some favoritism there, didn´t you always say you did not want to become an adult who would have his favorite people around him?" she continued.

"That was before I was basically saved from my self-isolation by Mirabel, she enabled me to return to you all.

So yeah, if you call that favoritism, then by all means I go all for it, then again, I like Dolores as well, after all she kept shut about me and my Rats living in the walls of casita for 10 years straight.

And Antonio for enabling my Prophecy power to once more being unleashed." I explained.

"Just stop fighting you two, Bruno I would be very grateful to you if you could go wake her up, as I said she can be a heavy sleeper." Julietta stated and I nodded.

"Will do, you can count on me, Sis." I stated as I made my way upstairs to wake up the one, whom I literally owe my life to, without Mirabel I would still be hiding in the walls.

She kept true to her words and enabled me to meet with mother and my family and be with everyone once more.

Without walls surrounding me.

"Mirabel, its time to wake up." I said with a smile, as I had entered after knocking but got no response.

The room I entered wasn´t much different from the former Nursery.

It still was tiny compared to all the other rooms but I guess Mirabel was just so used to the size of the Nursery that it would be hard on her to suddenly have a room as big as a jungle, a desert or an entire garden.

Still, this room was unique same as the others, it was also completely different from the nursery, instead of being a wast space, her room looked tiny but had a lot of hidden space within it.

For example she had a huge dress room, hidden beneath simple cupboard doors, in which she had all of her clothes and the clothes she made for others like Isabella and Louisa.

She had chest of drawers with sheer endless space within them, to store things.

Her room was really flaunting her creativity in making handicrafts all over the place.

if I shall be honest, this room was surely the homeliest of all the special Bedrooms of the Casa Madrigal.

It was a Room just for Mirabel Madrigal, her very own room, which she got after having to wait for 10 long, sheer endless, years.

And today was the day where we would recite her Gift Ceremony, I was wondering which gift she might get.

For the Candle herself told our Mother that Mirabel´s time had finally come.

Which makes me wonder, was I really the only one to look into the future?

What if the candle knew all of this would happen, what if she tried to make us see that we had to repair the cracks which Mothers pressure had caused to this family, for some kind of greater purpose.

It was a lingering thought, which I had over the whole last month, but I was afraid of following where this thought leads me to.

To have another vision…, it may be a vision of coming doom…

Sometimes the Future just crashes upon us mercilessly and inevitably, regardless if I can see it beforehand or not.

But what if this time, I would see the end of the Encanto, the definitive end.

For it has healed from its wounds, all of them…, all but one.

As I stood there in Mirabel's room my glance moved over to the window which faced the Mountains, the one that cracked.

Although we tried to get there and assess the damage done towards it, the Jungle somehow would not let us.

Also, the closer we came to the Ravine, the more we began to get that earie feeling of something being strange, out of place and not supposed to be…

As my glance fell back on the sleeping figure of Mirabel, I could not keep myself from feeling a Chill running down my spine.

Mental Manifestation.

It was a strong and terrifying Gift and even more so, very difficult to control, or keep in check when it was released during her being in deep pain.

It was strong enough to affect the entire Encanto, similar to Pepa´s forces.

Luckily the full force of the gift, only ever showed when Mirabel was under extreme emotional stress, which was luckily not every day and every time.

In the normal case, her gift just allowed her to succeed in crafting exactly what she wanted to craft, like her little handicrafts, they always came out as perfect.

Some may say it is basically just her talent, but if we look at what she did and how she did it, it´s evident that there was more to it than mere talent.

She wanted those things to succeed, to come out just right, it was her deepest wish to please her family.

but it was not easy to stay positive if no one truly takes you for real.

The pain and suffering of being the only not extraordinary member of a fantastical extraordinary family and the subtle neglect she received from most of these extraordinary people…, this kind of stress had to be accumulated over a long period of time, until the vessel for it, reached its limit to contain anything.

All it then needed was a strong trigger, to explode.

Back then when Casita began to crack, it was the very first emergence of it.

No one noticed, because everyone was more or less trapped in their own world, trying to be as perfect and flawless as required by Mother, expect for me who I lived in the walls.

As if it wanted to tell me that running away was a mistake…, maybe Casita was right, I should have confronted them with the truth…, maybe it would have kept Mirabel from experiencing so much heartbreak, so much stress and emotional pain and damage she had stored away, bottle up until the bottle shattered, when she and Mother had this huge Argument, when all of her pain was released in a single moment.

When her gift manifested the cracks of her broken heart.

So much pain and anxiety, so much weight and neglect, so much longing, all the negativity she had to shoulder in that small body of hers, accumulating over the course of a decade.

"Dear Sobrina…, I hope that you find your happiness in life, no matter what it may be." I thought as I stepped towards her to wake her up.

To be continued…

A/N: And there you have it, the second Chapter really talks a lot about Bruno as well as his perspective of the events that transpired as well as giving a little insight and his and his sister´s childhood, I hope you found it enjoyable.

How did you find my take on giving Mirabel a gift which was always there but never seen?

please leave a fave and a review.

Yours truly, the Storyteller and his Books.