Bruno couldn't deny that the day had shook him to his core. He'd never thought he would actually be telling anyone about any of this and yet here he was. He can't see all eventualities. His gift didn't work that way although sometimes he wished it did. He felt that it might give him a better sense of security in the world around him. Maybe he wouldn't be such a nervous wreck. Maybe he wouldn't say the wrong thing because he had time to prepare what he was going to say. Maybe he'd know what to do.

Maybe he wouldn't be afraid all the time.

This wasn't a way to live. No one should have to live their lives in fear and it made him angry that this was his life. None of it was his fault and somewhere deep inside he knew that and it just fed the anger in him. He was blamed for everything. Everyone always assumed the worst to the point where he hadn't even felt safe around his own family. It's why he left to begin with. It could be summed up that simply. He didn't trust them, he didn't know what they would do but he did know what they were capable of. He couldn't trust them with that prophecy. He'd been afraid for her and it quickly changed into anger. Anger over the way he'd been treated, anger over the way he knew everyone would treat her, and anger at the whole Encanto for putting him in that position. He couldn't deny the bitterness that had taken hold of his heart, however minuscule it may be. He tried not to, he really did but at the same time he felt it was justified.

He often wondered what might have happened if he actually had left the Encanto for good that night. At first Casita wouldn't let him leave, probably in fear of him never coming back. Eventually Casita relented and Bruno had done exactly what the house had feared. He left the Encanto. He'd left the sanctuary he'd grown up in. He'd been so upset and afraid and angry that he wanted nothing more than to leave and never come back. He'd sat out by the stream where he had found Mirabel and his mamá. He sat there until sunrise and couldn't bring himself to go through with it. He'd berated himself for months over that. He told himself that he was a coward but a little voice in his head always said the same thing and he couldn't argue with it.

For Mirabel.

He loved his family and would do anything for them. He'd die if he needed to. He was more than willing to make that sacrifice to protect his family. He was at peace with that idea and, oddly enough, the idea didn't scare him but going into town for a bit did. No, Bruno was not afraid of death. Not in the slightest, but he was afraid of people and he felt it was justified. No matter how well you think you know someone they can still surprise you. When push comes to shove, Bruno had learned, people were not good to each other. In times of crisis people looked to themselves, not to those around them. His padre was different. His padre was one in a million and Bruno doubted he'd ever see someone like him in his entire life. The odds were just too great. People weren't like that. It went against human nature. He tried not to linger on the idea of finding someone else like that. It gave him hope and, in his experience, hope is the worst evil of all. It does nothing more than prolong a torment that should have learned to be accepted a long time ago. Hope was a cruel thing. Hope is disappointment, defeat, and lying to yourself. He would bet on his life that, when the attack came and they fled, they fled in hopes of being safe. They weren't safe though were they? That hope was crushed and left an even greater wound behind and he could see that plain as day in his mamá. She'd had the hope that her family would be safe and it had been foolish to hope for that.

In Bruno's world hope was a poison. It seemed a comfort to others though so he'd let them keep theirs no matter if it was only a set up for pain. If they didn't understand that then it would be wrong to rip away that small bit of comfort. He'd hoped a lot in his life and it didn't work. Things would happen the way they were meant to and he'd long ago accepted his fate and stopped hoping for a life he would never have. It had taken him almost thirty years to understand that and that had been far too long.

It was these thoughts that ran through the seer's head as he stared down at the green tablet resting on the table in his room. He tilted it from one side to the other and squinted at the gleam of a beast's eyes in the darkness behind the dead bull. There were deep puncture marks on it's neck and Bruno was certain that was what killed it. It had fallen to the ground and from there the cat made its' move. He set the tablet flat with a quiet clink. He hadn't shown Felix this yet as the man had decided both he and Bruno were hungry and had left to dig around in the kitchen. He knew he'd have to and he did not want to go along with that but two people already knew so what was one more? He chewed on his nails as he tried to figure this out. It was a traditional prophecy and those could be changed but he had to be careful exactly how he went about changing it. He could easily make the situation worse and with his luck that is exactly what would happen.

He reached down and tilted the tablet to look at the eyes again where they hovered over the bull. He squinted again and ran his fingers over the image. He set it down and went over to look at the scarred ones. He pulled out the jaguar and set it side by side with the bull. He set his thumb over the eyes of the jaguar and then over the eyes above the bull. He chewed on his lower lip. Something was off. He could just feel it. He was missing something. The eyes of the cat with the bull were set farther apart than the jaguar so it was bigger than the other or the vision was set closer to the event so the cat appeared larger. Well, it didn't really matter it had to be a male and males tended to be bigger. Just look at Parce. He was a good sized cat.

Maybe another vision might help?

He drummed his fingers on the table before giving out a "knock, knock, knock, knock, knock on wood" finishing with a knock to head as always. He threw salt and sugar over his shoulder and went through the routine two more times before he took a breath, stood, and made his way to his vision cave, holding his breath and crossing his fingers as he exited his bedroom.

He tried not to think too hard as he climbed the stairs. He knew if he over thought it then he'd panic and wind up not going through with it. He couldn't help but think though. No one can ever really stop themselves from thinking but it's especially difficult when you're nervous. It was okay. He could do this. He shouldn't be afraid. What's going to happen will happen and accepting it would be the best.

Yet here he was, trying to find a way to change it and alter the fate of Liam and his family. Oh, if only he wasn't such a coward. If he could only tell Liam. If only people would listen to him instead of blaming him. He didn't want these things to happen. He never did. He wasn't a bad person, at least not like that anyway. He wanted to be a better person like his mamá always wanted. If he could change things, even if no one knew, he was living up to what his mamá had wanted all this time. He was willing to keep silent about it all. He didn't need that recognition. He was fine just being able to make things better. That's all he wanted. He wanted to help people with his gift too. This was the best way to do that.

He crossed his fingers and held his breath again as he passed through the doorway beyond the bridge. He didn't really mind the long trek up the stairs. It gave him time to prepare and put together the question he'd be asking. He couldn't let himself get overwhelmed with questions and uncertainties. Trying to focus on things he didn't know was always a set up for disaster. What he did know for certain is that from this point on cats were a direct threat to his mental health.

He closed the door to his cave and took a deep, steadying breath counting the seconds of his inhale and exhale. One question. One question only. What question though? There was certainly a lot of questions to ask. In the end it was simple.

"Show me again. Show me what's going to happen. What's going to happen tonight?"

This would give him a better time. Either it would happen tonight or tonight would just feature the common regularities of la Casa de Madrigal. Well, as normal as they could get. He didn't mind not being normal but neither would he mind being normal. He liked what he could do he just didn't like the results. He wished that he could have more good prophecies. He wished he could change that and make his mamá proud of him. That's really the only thing he wanted in life. He just wanted to make her happy. He wanted her to be proud of him so much. He wanted it more than anything else in the world. He wanted to hand over a prophecy and have her look at him and smile at him and tell him that he'd done a good job. It was simple enough but, even with all of the changes that had taken place, he highly doubted it would ever happen. He was Bad Luck Bruno after all. The guy who made bad things happen.

Hope was poison.

He shook his head and focused.

"Show me what's going to happen tonight." He whispered as he went through his grounding ritual.

He closed his eyes and reached out looking for the right feeling, the right coloured ribbon that would guide his vision. It was more like he could smell or taste the colour that drifted through the between spaces. He opened his eyes as he latched on and his mind was violently pulled from the here and now. He sucked in a deep breath.

"Show me." He demanded, voice clear and confident.

The sands obeyed.

It was always overwhelming. Nothing could change that and he'd gotten used to it. He always needed a bit of time between visions or he'd get fried out and spend the rest of day in a fog and not come out of his room where it would be warm and dark and safe. Curling up somewhere dark and quiet always helped when he felt like that. The world and all her vibrancy and energy was something he couldn't deal with in those moments and if he tried then that fogginess only got worse and he'd become either easily frustrated or lose his grip on the moment and just come off as an idiot. There were just times where he couldn't understand what was going on around him and his mind would block everything out because it was just too much. He didn't like those moments especially when they stretched on through an entire day or more. It was embarrassing to say the least and a comfort that no one knew.

Oh Dios mio, would that fall under Felix's everything category? Out of everything that was really the one thing that he didn't want anyone to know. He was afraid of what they might think of him then. He felt it would do nothing other than bring more shame to family and all because of him, again. Sometimes all it would take would be one vision and one alone to trigger that state. The reaching was always exhausting no matter what and he could accept that. That wasn't what scared him though.

Sometimes, something else would reach back.

There was only one prophecy that he'd seen when that reaching had touched him no matter how minuscule it was and that prophecy had been scarred. He never kept it. He shattered it every time lest someone find it. Bruno decided, despite the risk, that he was not going to tell Felix about any of that. He'd probably sound insane talking about "reaching". Even to him that sounded like crazy talk but he didn't know any other way to word it. That's just what it was, the feeling of reaching out with his mind to grasp at a thing that no one but him could see or feel.

The wind picked up around him as he found his path through the sands. He sucked in a breath when his eyes opened of their own accord as they always did. Didn't make it any less unsettling though. The images pulled themselves together and he saw the same thing. The bull in his pen. The bull panicking. The bull breaking loose. He saw the flash again and focused harder. What was the light that reflected in the big cat's eyes? He reached out his hand and touched the wall of sand moving as though to turn a page in a book. Maybe that would help and it did.

"Oh Dios mio." He said, eyes wide. "No, no, esto es malo. Esto es realmente malo."

It was Mirabel, she was holding a lantern up. This was going to happen tonight and she would be there. She wouldn't just be there either. She was going to be in the thick of things like the wonderful, compassionate, empathetic, idiot she was.

"Tonight? This is tonight. I can't let her do this alone. I have to be there. Someone has to be there." He decided and the moment the thought was done the sands shifted in a violent and turbulent fashion that made Bruno's head spin and he hoped he wasn't going to be sick.

Whenever you look into the future the future changes, because you looked at it.

Felix had a few moments of silence as he walked back into Bruno's room before a horrified scream rattled off the canyon walls.