Bruno rubbed his eyes, wrong choice that hurt, and put his hands out to feel for a wall. When he did he followed it away from his vision cave. He stopped at the bridge. Could a person die in their rooms? He didn't think so. It was a long way down though and he couldn't see. He trembled on the spot. What should he do? He needed to get downstairs and Casita would help him to the kitchen for some food and then Bruno could try again. He had to try again. He heard a squeak as little rat feet climbed up onto his shoulder and dug at his hair. He reached up a hand to pet the little animal to calm himself. Very soft fur.
"Ah, Frida." He gave a shaky laugh. "You do this every day right? Shouldn't be so hard. Right?" He gulped.
She squeaked and climbed atop his head, nuzzling his scalp.
"How do I do this? Oh, how do I do this?"
He could crawl but there was still that risk of slipping off an edge he can't see. He put a hand over his mouth. Now was not the time to cry. Heck, with the way his eyes felt right now he wondered if he even could cry. It was more comfortable to keep his eyes closed. It didn't matter either way. He heard more squeaks from more rats and felt a tugging at his pant legs. He took a breath and followed. He trusted his rats just as they trusted him.
They guided him over the bridge and to the top of his stairs. From there he could keep a steadying hand on the wall. Easy as pie. It was more exhausting than he thought it would be though and had to take a few breaks. He was out of breath when he reached the bottom and took a few moments while his rats scrambled and squeaked, climbing around on him and nuzzling his body wherever they could reach. Most of them wanted to be near his face.
He was prime real estate.
When he'd caught his breath he stood and made his way to his bedroom and so what if he ran into a wall once. No one was here but his rats. His dignity had flown off faster than Pico the moment he'd started crawling. He felt around for a rag or something to wipe his face with, wetting it in the sink. The blood had crusted to his face and eyes. It was slow going to clean it off without too much pain. Especially his eyes. Food, he just needed some of his hermana's food and he'd be fine. No one had come looking for him so he must not have been out too long. Just a few minutes maybe.
Food and then he'd keep trying. There had to be something he was missing. There had to be a way to see beyond the scar, to see the change. He needed to see the effect especially now that Antonio was missing and there was a man eating jaguar on the loose. He doubted the animal was going to be very chatty let alone be persuaded into anything. This jaguar was not like Parce. The jaguar he'd seen had been fierce with no hesitation at all. Antonio would, of course, believe that he could do something but, he hadn't taken anyone with him. He hadn't said where he was going. He just vanished. It was perfectly fine for Bruno to do that. He was an adult, it was a different story, but not Antonio. No, the boy, his sobrino, had no idea what he was up against. He was just a little kid. He slumped over and leaned back against the wall, taking a moment for himself to just catch his breath.
No one was out there. No one would know.
This was quickly disproven when he heard his door slam open. His eyes widened, or he was pretty sure they did. He rubbed the rag over his face again before pulling his hood over his eyes and praying that they wouldn't start bleeding again. This was not the time to worry about him. His sobrino needed him so, he would help the best way he could. He was getting better. He had better control now that he was free to explore his gift.
"Bruno!" It was Felix and he sounded angry.
He sounded very, very angry.
He took a shaky breath in and let it out in a quick huff. His hands shook. Why was he angry? What had happened?
"You." He heard Felix growl behind him and he turned toward the tunnel entrance. "You had to have seen something." He hissed through gritted teeth. "You left. You disappeared when everyone was being told about a man eating jaguar. No one just leaves that conversation. Not even you."
Felix's voice was deep and accusing.
"What did you see?"
"I didn't see anything about this Felix I swear." He could barely raise his voice passed a whisper. "I-I promise I didn't."
"I think you're lying."
"Felix I swear. I promise, I promise I didn't. Why would I keep a vision about Antonio from the family? I came back here to try."
"You left before Antonio went missing." Felix snarled as he stepped farther into he room.
Not that Bruno knew that.
"I didn't see anything about Antonio, I swear. I tried."
"You're not telling me the whole truth."
"I said I didn't see anything about Antonio!" Bruno yelled back. "I tried. I did. I tried. I just can't-" He grabbed his head.
"Can't what?" He said as he stepped again, anger filling his head.
"I-I can't see a-anything about him. I swear. I wouldn't keep this from the family. I wouldn't keep this from you. Por favor creeme. Nunca haria eso."
There was a long and heavy pause as Felix stared at Bruno. He stepped a little farther into the room. Noticing Bruno's trembling form he sighed. It wasn't doing any good being angry right now. He walked over to the far wall and leaned against it, pressing his forehead to the stone.
Wait. He lifted his head, eyes wide. He turned his head back to look at Bruno, who hadn't moved from his spot, head ducked down. He hadn't even turned his head to look at Felix. The hood of his ruana covered half of his face from view.
"What did you see?" He demanded, though his voice was quieter.
"I-I t-told you I-I couldn't-"
"See anything about Antonio." He interrupted. "You were rather specific on that. So, what did you see?" While his voice was quiet his tone was harder than any stone Bruno had dared to mold.
"I-I didn't-I don't-i-is he okay?" Bruno let out a shaky whisper.
"Physically yes."
Bruno breathed a sigh of relief and felt some of the tension leave his body.
"What did you see about this situation?"
"N-nothing." Bruno shook his head. "I-I tried. You have to believe me I tried but I just couldn't see-I couldn't-I can't" The words were on the tip of his tongue.
"We are talking about my son Bruno!" His voice echoed off the walls.
"I can't see beyond the scars!" He yelled and Felix fell silent.
He should not have said that. Well, go big or go home.
He wandered over to the clear space by the dresser, across the room from those cursed shelves and slid down the wall. He tucked his face into his knees and the wall fell away for Felix to see. He hadn't known that Felix was right beside the shelf when it was opened. It would have made for a dramatic sight.
"First one on the left. You can look. I don't want you look though. I couldn't see passed her death. I tried. I-I had to-I needed to know."
"The jaguar attack?" Bruno couldn't identify the kind of emotion that was in his cuñado's voice. "You knew that was going to happen?"
Bruno nodded as much as he was able.
"And you didn't tell anyone?" Felix's voice was filled with….disgust and Bruno was sure he was crying now.
"I never show any of those to anyone. T-there's no point. They can't be changed. Why tell someone something like that if there's nothing they can do to stop it? Those prophecies are scarred and I can't see passed the scars. P-please Felix….don't look at them." He choked. "Don't look at them. If you do…..i-if you do you'll never forget it and it'll stay with you. Trust me, don't look."
At this point it had gone beyond the current situation so, Felix did look and Bruno had been right. He knew that he would never be able to get that sight, that vision, out of his head. The tablet was so different from the others. Emerald still but with black smoke drifting throughout. There were more on the shelves and Felix wondered if they were all like this. No wonder Bruno behaved the way he did if this was the stuff he saw. He slid it back on the shelf as quietly as he could and moved away from the shelf and those smokey tablets.
"And you never thought to tell the family about this?"
Bruno just mumbled something in response.
"No mumbling. Out with it."
His voice was so quiet that Felix barely heard him.
"We don't talk about Bruno." The man sobbed and Felix's heart sank. "All mamá wanted was good prophecies. All anyone wanted was a good prophecy and I could never seem to give anyone that and mamá would get so mad." He looked up at Felix. "I-I don't know how anyone would react to this. So, I was, I am, too afraid to show anyone."
Or, he looked up where Felix used to be. At first the man thought he was just staring at the shelves but when he moved Bruno didn't shift his head to look and Bruno always did his best to keep people in his sight. Felix squinted at him and caught a smear of red on the man's thumb. His brow furrowed.
"Bruno." The man in question stiffened at the seriousness in his voice. "What colour shirt am I wearing?"
"I-I d-don't see how th-tha-that's im-important."
"What colour. Is. My shirt?"
Bruno wracked his brain for the best guess he could come up with. The most likely result of Felix's particular fashion choices. All he could do was guess. He should've thrown salt over his shoulder the moment he came in here. Now because of his stupidity and forgetfulness he was caught in a scenario where good luck had deserted him. He gulped and went for it.
"Y-yellow?" He tried not to make it sound like a question.
Felix looked down at his orange shirt.
"Close, but not close enough. Bruno look at me."
Bruno just curled further in on himself and shook his head.
"I'll go get Alma. Don't test me here." His voice was like steel. "Look at me."
Bruno lifted his head and looked at where Felix used to be.
"Yeah. I'm over here." Felix said flatly from where he'd moved to sit on Bruno's left and the man nearly jumped out of skin. "Now look at me."
Bruno stayed frozen, Hood covering his eyes.
"Bruno." Felix grabbed his chin, turned his head, and pulled his hood down.
He was squinting his eyes shut hard.
"Open your eyes."
Bruno knew they had to look awful. He just knew it.
"I-I it feels better this way." It was lousy, but at least he was trying.
"Look at me." Felix nearly growled and Bruno's resolve crumbled.
Felix couldn't hold back the gasp. Bruno's eyes were...the whites of his eyes were red. A deep and bloody red with flecks of, what Felix was certain, dried blood in his lashes and speckled across his face, under his eyes under his nose and on his chin. It was obvious that he'd tried to wash it off as best as he could but it seemed like a rush job. Bruno had been wiping blood from his face right as Felix had opened his door.
"I told you I tried." Bruno whimpered.
"Dios mío Bruno. Esto es...we have to go downstairs. Julieta will know what to do." Adrenaline filled his voice and Bruno bit his lip.
This was the last thing he had wanted.
"N-no. It's already b-been such a b-bad day. I-I'm alright. I-I'm sure it'll pass."
"Este no es el momento para este Bruno. Ésto es una emergencia." Felix tried not to yell. "Do not make me carry you again. I will drag you kicking and screaming from here if I have to. Vamos abajo y vas a ver a tu hermana ahora. No questions. Have you been bleeding?" He ran his thumbs beneath Bruno's eyes and oh god that hurt.
He jerked his head back with a wince.
"T-that hurt v-very m-much." He said as he nodded his head, teeth clenched and breath shaky.
"Have you been bleeding from your eyes?!" He grabbed Bruno's arm and pulled him to his feet.
"N-no. Come on Felix." Bruno said as he tried to pull away. "It's been a rough enough day on everyone and I think we can both agree that the family's had enough trouble. I-I'm sure it'll go away. There's no need to-"
"Don't you get it Bruno!?" He shouted, pulling Bruno closer to him and tightening his grip as he grabbed Bruno's other arm. "You're a part of this family and family looks out for one another! If you're hurt, or afraid, or something goes wrong, you are supposed to come to us!"
"N-no." He shook his head. "W-we don't talk about-" Felix cut off his sentence.
"I'm sorry." He said and Bruno could hear the tears in his voice. "We are all sorry. I-It could be so painful to think of you and we couldn't handle it because our family was broken. We're trying to fix things but you're fighting everything, you're fighting us, so hard and you don't have to."
There was a heavy silence.
"Por favor Bruno, mi hermano, mi amigo. Let us help you." Felix sounded so desperate.
Her certainly was desperate. Desperate to help, to heal, and desperate for Bruno to just go with him without a fight because it's a fight he wouldn't win. Or….could he? Not right now, the man was far too exhausted Felix could see that easy. No, he thought back to the stone and how it had crumbled to dust seemingly at Bruno's whim.
"I'll make you a deal. I won't tell anyone about your other prophecies but, in return you tell me everything. W-when you said what you do can be dangerous. I didn't really understand that until now. Someone needs to know just in case things go bad, like right now. I want to know because I need to know how I can help. Or how I can keep things like this from happening."
After a long silence Bruno nodded his head and went along with Felix's guiding hand. He was not looking forward to this.
"The kids." He whispered just as they moved to stand in front of the door.
"I'll make sure they don't see." Felix said, pulling up the hood of his ruana again and opening the door.
Bruno took a deep breath and walked out of his room and down the stairs.
