This is much less sad
Everything had just gone so wrong and by wrong Bruno meant his whole life. On more than one occasion he'd wondered what things would have been like if he hadn't even been born. He kept trying so hard to give good prophecies and he'd managed one. Well, at least one that mattered. A couple came to him, unsure about their relationship. They had been going through a rough patch together and there had been a lot of arguments with many cruel and regretful words slung at each other. They wanted to know if it would be best to part on better terms. He'd been so scared but he didn't really have a choice so he'd closed the door to his vision cave, the couple left waiting outside, and began his ritual, throwing a handful of salt over his shoulder for good luck.
That was a habit he'd only recently picked up but one that his family did not appreciate. He couldn't really blame them for being upset at all of the salt on the floor everywhere. Even if it had only been a few days. His mamá didn't like it because it turned heads and only served to make him seem even stranger and it wouldn't do to give the Madrigals a bad name. They had to be strong and his silly little superstitions only served to spread more rumors and make them all look bad. That was the last thing he wanted to do but he had no choice.
This time though, this time it was different. As he stared into the whirlwind around him what he saw made him smile and give a short huff of laughter. As soon as the vision ended, and he found himself staring at the green tablet, he grinned.
"Finally." He thought to himself. "Finally."
He hugged the tablet to his chest before glancing at the stone door behind him. He quickly snapped a piece off of the corner and stuffed it hastily into his pocket as he moved to open the door. He handed them the glass tablet and watched their faces light up as they looked at the image of their wedding day. They had hugged, kissed, and run down the stairs and out of Casita. They hadn't even thanked him, but he didn't care. He didn't care one bit. He'd finally given a good prophecy and made people happy with his gift. He wound up taking the stolen shard and carefully shaping it into a smooth oval. He'd made a necklace out of it and he wore it everywhere, tucked beneath his ruana.
Maybe, just maybe thing's were starting to look up.
But things didn't and he continued to ruin things everywhere he went whether it be by prophecies, or just some stupid thing he said or did. He didn't interact with people very often and had never been good at anything social so he made a lot of mistakes. He just couldn't seem to word things right or people wouldn't let him finish and just assume what he was saying was some kind of prophecy or that he was being intentionally cruel or mean. He knew his sister would never forgive him for what had happened at her wedding and he knew that she had that right. He'd just wanted to tell her that this was a day for her and a day that was all about her and it would be wrong to bottle up those emotions. He wanted to tell her about how a rainbow always followed the rain but he didn't get to finish and, looking back, telling her that it looked like rain had been a bad way to try and start up that conversation. Felix, bless his heart, hadn't cared at all and grinned through the entire ceremony despite the wind and rain. He did care about Pepa though and was angry at Bruno on her behalf.
Bruno began to wonder if it was best that he stay away from his sister and her husband. His wonderings didn't matter because, in the end, Pepa and he had grown apart and civil conversations became few and far between.
Julieta was different. She was always there to try and cheer him up but a lot of the time it didn't work. He would pretend it did though, to make her happy. That's all he wanted to do with his life, with his gift, make people happy. He just wasn't very good at it. There were times where he needed to be mean though but that was make good things happen. People still held it against him but he wasn't about to try and explain it to anyone. They wouldn't believe him anyway.
He was infinitely thankful that Agustin turned out to be the man he was. Just as kind and understanding as his sister which is why he knew they were meant to be together. He hadn't meant to see. He'd been by his lake watching his rats playing together in the water and he had felt that pain in his head. He gritted his teeth and tried so hard to make it stop. There were other people at his lake and if they saw then it wouldn't end well for him. He was already bad luck Bruno, he was already the curse of the Encanto, and he'd ruin this place for everyone if they saw. They'd say that he'd cursed the lake somehow. That he'd filled it with his bad luck and the lake would be dangerous. They'd think that people might drown in the lake he'd cursed.
But he couldn't do it. No matter how hard he tried he just couldn't get control of his gift. His mamá kept telling he needed to try harder, that he was scaring people and he tried so hard for her because she was his mamá and he loved his mamá. He wanted her to be proud of him like she was proud of his sisters. Though he didn't think it was fair to Pepa to make her contain her emotions. The more someone kept their emotions bottled up the worse the eventual outburst would be.
He'd reached his hand beneath the hood of his ruana as the rats seemed to notice his distress. He shooed them away as quickly as he could in case he couldn't stop this. He didn't want the little creatures, especially the babies, to get caught up in the whirlwind. He didn't know how that might end. Rats were durable creatures and great swimmers in case they were flung farther into the lake but he still didn't want to take that chance. They were his only friends. He didn't want to hurt them too.
He lifted his hand, curled it into a fist, and cracked it hard against the side of his head. People had certainly noticed that and were staring but he didn't care. He had to try and make it stop and the hitting had worked a lot of times before. He hit himself harder but the pressure wasn't stopping. He tried again, and again, but it wasn't working and he was starting to panic. He clutched his head, clenched his teeth, and curled on himself as he whined in distress. Like an explosion it happened. The sand flew around him, spinning and spinning and pulling water into the cyclone around him. He screamed. It hurt. His head hurt from how hard he'd hit himself and now it had blossomed into a blinding pain on the side of his head.
When he'd collapsed, tablet falling to the dirt with a thud, no one was at the lake anymore. He shook and pulled at his hair as he rocked back and forth, trying to calm himself. He took deep breaths and finally raised his head to look for the glass tablet and when he found it his brows creased in confusion. He bit his lip and hesitantly crawled towards it. The tablet wasn't emerald like it should have been. It was a bright sea green and his hands trembled as he decided whether or not he wanted to look. It was different and Bruno didn't like different. He didn't know what it meant or why it was a different colour from all his others. This had never happened. He winced at the pain in his head and lifted a hand to feel the lump that had formed there. Had he really hit himself that hard? Well, it hadn't worked so obviously he needed a harder hit in the future to stop this from happening again.
He took a deep breath, reached out, grabbed the tablet in his quivering hands, and looked. It was a strange vision that showed different images that changed like ripples in the water. He blinked. He saw a man, one who stood out from the rest of the town. He was rather finely dressed, with neatly combed hair, glasses, and a well trimmed mustache. Bruno couldn't remember ever seeing him in the Encanto before. Was something going to happen? Were people about to come to the Encanto? New people? Would they be safe? The image swelled and undulated until he saw the man standing next to his sister, who was wearing a wedding dress. Both were smiling ear to ear. His jaw dropped and he was about to run back to Casita to show his sister but the tablet melted away and fell onto the ground, the dirt quickly soaking it up.
What?
He blinked and temporarily forgot about the lump on his head and the pain that came with it. He was confused. What was he supposed to say? What was he supposed to do? What would happen if he told his mamá that his vision tablet had melted? His body shook and he brought a hand to his mouth. He was so scared. What did this mean? What did this mean?! He yanked his hood back over his head and ran away as fast as he could before anyone came asking questions. Over the years he'd become very good at running and was more than capable of disappearing the moment someone turned their heads.
He decided not to tell anyone. Even when he caught sight of a neatly dressed and well put together man. He'd found himself smiling excitedly and took to following both his sister and this mystery man around just waiting for the moment the two met. He grew more and more frustrated as the days turned into weeks and the two simply passed each other by in the street. Every single time they walked passed each other without so much as a glance Bruno wanted to scream. He'd never tell anyone but one day he'd finally had enough and, while the man was admiring the trees by Bruno's lake, he'd snuck his way into the forest making sure the man never caught sight of him and watched. The mystery man stood and took a moment to himself and that was when Bruno saw his opportunity.
He pulled his hood up, took a deep breath, and picked up a rock. He tossed it up and down in his hand for a moment to get a feel for the weight of it. He narrowed his eyes and grinned before launching the rock at the bee's nest above the man's head. That would get this man to finally talk to his hermana. He slunk off through the trees and bolted back to Casita as fast as he could, leaving the man behind him to fall victim to the swarm of angry bees.
As it turns out, the man's name was Agustin and was a very caring person. The more Bruno got to know him the more he felt bad about the bees but, at the same time, he didn't. It had brought the two together and, as it turns out, the man was a little accident prone so he hadn't questioned the sudden assault from a bee's nest that he hadn't even known was there. Either way, Bruno was going to take that secret to his grave.
Bruno had been very careful at their wedding. He stood to the side with the hood of his ruana pulled up. Everyone else was dressed rather finely but Bruno had always refused to take off his ruana. He even slept in it. So, despite him trying to stay out of sight he still stuck out like a sore thumb. He was worried. He was scared. But, he was also happy for Julieta who looked so very happy. It reminded him of that couple who he had foretold their own wedding that he hadn't even been invited to. He was fine with that though. He was perfectly fine.
The only real problem that Bruno had with Agustin was the man's tendency to want Bruno to be included in things and Bruno thought that was a very bad idea. The man, much to Bruno's displeasure, had physically yanked him out on to the dance floor. Now, Bruno was in no way a good dancer and neither was Agustin. They had both wound up tumbling into the wedding cake tipping the table over and sending glasses and plates flying and shattering on the floor. Agustin had thought it was hilarious but Bruno, after seeing the looks villagers were giving him, had snuck off without a word. He'd ruined Pepa's wedding and now he went and ruined Julieta's too. Good old Bruno luck holding true to form. He'd spent the rest of the day scrubbing the frosting off of his ruana before retreating to his tower.
Couldn't he just go a single day without ruining something?!
As the years passed he became more and more secluded, mostly staying in his tower and playing with the sand. He grew very good at making sculptures and, aside from giving prophecies and running from angry villagers, he made things in his tower and in doing so he'd learned something new about his gift. He'd finished a sculpture, a small turtle and nothing special, and as he finished he wondered if as the time passed and he left it there perhaps it would harden and become stone.
Then it did.
He watched the little thing harden, sandstone spreading out from beneath his fingers. With wide eyes he picked it up and turned it in his hands. It was solid but still fragile. It scared him. It was different, different like the tablet that melted through his fingers. He trembled, breath coming in quick short gasps, as he held it before throwing it against the wall with a scream where it broke apart into clumps. He could still see the pattern of the turtle shell so he bolted over and stomped it all back into dust before running to his room and curling up in his bed.
What happened? How had he done that?! What was wrong with him?! What was happening to him?! He felt the tears drip from his eyes and onto his pillow. He was terrified. What should he do? Should he tell someone? Should he run and tell his mamá and plead with her to tell him what was wrong with him? Would she be angry? Would they all be angry? Would they become more afraid of him? He was already afraid of himself. He was so scared and he wanted to badly to run to his mamá so she could make it all better and tell him that everything was going to be fine and that he was fine.
But he wasn't fine and he was certain that, if he told her, she would be upset. So, he kept it to himself. His curiosity got the better of him though and, over the course of a year, he'd mastered it. He still couldn't quite understand how he could do it. He just could. So, he kept his favorite sculptures, hiding them away in his room where no one would find them.
His sisters had children and he remained alone. He was certain now that that wasn't going to change. He was bad luck Bruno, the one who made bad things happen. No one wanted to be around him so why would he even try? He loved those kids though. Isabela was none too fond of his rats and he'd felt awful for days about how she'd reacted when she'd first seen one. Looking back on it, it seemed to have scared him more than it had her. He liked helping her with her gift. He often asked for flowers or some other plant she wanted to make. Everyone loved her flowers so that's what she always made. But, Bruno wondered, as he thought of the sandstone, what else she could do. He wondered what else his precious little sobrina could do but he couldn't force it. She'd find out for herself one day, he knew it. He had foreseen it. Sometimes though the future is better left unsaid but he had kept the tablet tucked away in his room on a sandstone shelf he had created. There were very few prophecies he kept to himself and he treasured each one. He let himself be selfish with them. To look into the future is to change the future and some futures he did not want to be changed. Some things, like the tablets he kept, were fate. Destinies written in the stars or spoken to him by his lake.
When his lake spoke he drew the whispers and hid them away in that same secret room as the tablets. He made them their own shelves and spaces in a room he had carved by simply reversing how he had made stone. He would never tell anyone about it. Never. He knew people wouldn't understand because he couldn't understand.
His sisters had more children and he enjoyed playing with them too. Camilo he told stories to and the boy like it when he used silly voices for his characters and eventually Camilo learned how to shift into any person he wanted to and the stories became something so much greater as Camilo used his wondrous gift to leave his own mark in the tale. He even used the voices that Bruno did and it made the soothsayer so happy.
Even after Luisa got her gift he still liked to carry her around with him. He'd give some excuse to her about how he was too short to see anything right and she could see things better than him. He'd always squint his eyes and pretend that his vision was blurry so she'd climb onto his shoulders and they'd race through town together. He loved hearing her laugh and he loved being the one to make her laugh.
As their family grew, Bruno found himself feeling less sad.
Until that fateful day where his dear, sweet, little Mirabel's door faded right in front of his eyes. She was such a creative and cheerful child. She liked to sew and Bruno let her try and teach him how but, most often, they both walked away with bloody fingers from fumbling with the sewing needles. He'd never forget the look on his sobrina's face as she turned to look up at her abuela. She was confused and heartbroken and it just wasn't right to have that expression on her face. It was an expression he had seen in the mirror since he was five. He knew that look and he knew what that expression could grow into.
That night, his mamá asked for a vision. She wanted to claw and grasp at any kind of reason as to why this could have happened. He loved his mamá so, despite the warning in his heart, he did as he was told. He shouldn't have done it. He knew he should have said no. He knew that, for once in his life, he should have said no to his mamá. He looked down at the tablet in his hands, both confused and horrified at what he saw. He saw their house, their home, breaking and at its' center was his dear little Mirabel who'd looked up at her abuela with an expression that had mirrored his own through so many times in his life. The tears fell without his permission but they stopped as soon as they had started. His brows creased. He tilted the tablet and the cracks in Casita were gone. He moved it back and forth over and over. It was so different from any of his others and Bruno didn't like different. He didn't know what it meant but he did know that no one could see this.
They would tear her apart just like they had him. He refused to let her share the same fate, the same life, as his. He gritted his teeth, a powerful rage overcoming him, hardening the sand beneath his feet. He wouldn't let that happen. He knew that once he walked out that door and saw his mamá she would demand to know what he had seen and he couldn't let that happen. He threw the tablet to the ground, shattering it on the stone, as he made the hardest and most important decision of his life.
He needed to leave and he needed to leave now.
The sand began to fall and cover the shards as if they never existed. He walked down the hall and outside his vision cave. He turned around before he reached the top of his stairs and paused. He walked forward and took a deep breath before holding his hands out and concentrating. His eyes grew green and bands of liquid emerald stretched from his palms and intertwined with his fingers like smoke. The bridge over the deep chasm fell to dust and he collapsed. He gasped for breath, chest heaving, before shakily getting to his feet and wiping the blood from his nose. He made the long trek down his stairs, taking his time and hoping that mamá wouldn't see him. When he emerged there was no one around and he breathed a sigh of relief. He pulled up his hood and took a breath before marching his way down the hall toward the stairs. Casita did not feel the same way as he did and the floor moved beneath him, keeping him in place. That rage grew again and he snarled at the old house.
"Let me go." He growled. "For Mirabel."
Instead, he heard a creak behind him and stopped, afraid that mamá had come to find him but when he turned all he saw was a painting hanging oddly from the wall. He turned and peered inside to see a long hallway hidden behind the walls of Casita. The painting waved at him and then he understood. Casita wouldn't let him leave but Casita wanted to protect Mirabel too. So, without hesitation, Bruno leaped through the space and pulled the painting shut behind him.
For all his power he hadn't seen that little golden butterfly drifting through the whirlwind of green, nor had he seen the tiny cracks that stretched across his vision cave.
Yes, I feel like there's a lot more to Bruno's gift. He's not holding a prophecy tablet on his door. He's holding an hourglass.
