A/N: Hello! I hope you all had some Happy Holidays and a great New Year's. General warning for some non-graphic but violent things Bruno sees in a vision. This is a tense one, folks, and it ends on a cliffhanger, but the good news is I'm halfway done with the next chapter and planning on it being done next week (famous last words...please don't hold me to it, lol.)
Chapter 40
Lucía laughed as Josefina tugged her hand, pulling her faster and faster toward Casita.
"Fresita, Josefina - I can barely keep up! Slow down! What's the rush?"
"Isabela said she'd grow a maze for some of Antonio's animals to go through as a challenge and I don't want to be late because Antonio says Parce says he's going to win but Pico says he's going to win and Chispi said he'd only participate if there was melon involved so now Isabela's growing a maze and an entire fruit salad and I don't want to miss any of it!"
"Oh, well, then - " Lucía struggled to keep up with her daughter. "This does call for more speed, doesn't it?"
She grabbed her skirts, lifted them high enough to run, and the look on Josefina's face as she pulled ahead of her daughter was priceless.
"Race you to Casita!"
"Mamá! No fair! You have longer legs!" Josefina laughed as she chased after her.
When they arrived at Casita, they were both panting and Lucía regretted her impromptu run but not the smile on Josefina's face. Pepa was waiting at the bottom of the stairs to Bruno's room with her arms crossed and a cloud growing above her head.
Josefina made a mad dash for Isabela's room, where the maze challenge was apparently taking place, and Lucía joined Pepa.
"Everything okay?" Lucía asked, still short of breath and attempting to pat her hair into place.
Pepa's cloud let out a tiny thunder of irritation. "I'm fine."
Lucía looked to the cloud hanging low over Pepa's head and the expression on her face and wisely said nothing about either.
The wind started picking up a moment later and Lucía attempted to turn subtly into it to cool her flushed face.
She must've inhaled a little too deeply because Pepa snorted and Lucía froze.
"Come here," Pepa said, and stepped away from the doorway.
"Oh – ah – sorry -" said Lucía –
"Just come here," Pepa huffed, and guided her into the doorway, and then Pepa positioned herself beside her.
Somehow the air currents between the doorway of Bruno's room and the halls caught Pepa's wind and magnified it, and the breeze was so stiff it pushed her skirts against her knees and her hair back from her face.
Lucía couldn't help but smile and lift her face against it and she spread her arms slightly, sighing in contentment.
When she opened her eyes, Pepa was smirking at her. She stepped out of the doorway and the breeze died, and her cloud lightened, just a bit.
"Better?" Pepa asked.
"Much better, thank you," Lucía said. She rubbed her arms briskly. The quick cool down actually left her a little chilled, but she wasn't complaining. It felt nice. "What are you waiting for?"
Pepa sighed. "It was Félix's turn to sit with Bruno this afternoon, but we're supposed to meet with Señora Guzmán to go over wedding details – Dolores and Mariano picked a date, did I tell you?"
Lucía smiled. "No, I didn't know! Congratulations, how exciting!"
"Gracias," Pepa said. "But the visions are running behind and I'm just…anxious about being on time." Her expression softened. "She's my baby – my first baby. And she's getting married, and I want it to be perfect for her. Well, not that it has to be perfect, just – I want things to go smoothly. I want her to love it. I want it to be fun."
"Oh. Well, I can go take his place," Lucía said. "So you can make your wedding planning meeting."
Pepa stopped fiddling with her braid and a slow smirk spread across her face. "I knew I liked you."
Lucía laughed, and then she climbed the stairs to Bruno's room, and the larger set of stairs beyond it, into Bruno's vision room.
Félix was warm and grateful as he bid them good-bye. Lucía found from him and Bruno that the reason the visions had been so slow that day were because they were all clouded with flashes of the upcoming future, and it was difficult to sort out if the trips would bring about the vision or if the vision was simply coming closer and they were running out of time before it finally happened.
The last two visions of the day were more of the same, and after they said good-bye to the last patron, they prepared to look into the Vision itself to see if anything had changed. They'd been doing this every afternoon after the last customer had gone, and so far, nothing had changed. It had simply been the same vague pieces it'd always been - the road to the Encanto disappearing, the vision shifting between a woman alone on the ground and two women sitting together on a log; men in a truck; men on horseback - a bird, a snake, and a horse - and, of course - Tatiana.
That afternoon, it was different.
The vision had come faster than the others, urgent – like a warning – and the pieces were even more rushed, even more terrifying than any of the previous ones.
A man with a weathered face and a tightly set square jaw in a truck with a group of other men. He wears a straw hat with a hole in the brim.
Tatiana lifting a hand to the same truck in greeting.
The road to the Encanto disappearing, covered with foliage.
Tatiana with a knife against her throat and a bruise on her cheek.
Tatiana with her arms wrapped around herself, deep pain and grief etched onto her face.
Juan and his father, pleading with tear-stained faces, their hands outstretched – to – to – Mirabel?
Mirabel, near the road out of the Encanto, her head bowed and the trees slowly disappearing.
Villagers – including Bruno – searching through the woods.
Bruno, pushing aside a large fern to find a woman on the ground, her hair spread out around her – he knelt beside her –
Tatiana, the woman on the ground, her forehead marred with a large bruise.
Men on horseback, men with a wagon, men with weapons – near the fountain in the town square of the Encanto.
The same men looting shops in town –
Se ñora Villanueva's fabric shop.
Agust ín's parent's tailor shop.
A smashed accordion. Torn fabric. Corn. Grapes. Books trampled on the ground.
The Mu ñoz vineyards.
The school.
Jos é and Luc ía's print shop.
The caf é.
Buildings being ransacked, goods being piled high in the cart, people being threatened with guns and knives and pitchforks and machetes, the town hall burning –
Luisa, fighting against seven men at once, her expression one of pure horror.
Isabela, wrapping several of the men in her vines, an enraged snarl on her face.
Antonio, hiding.
Pepa raging in the town square, wind and lightning surrounding her.
The men, fleeing.
The same men in other cities, continuing to take what they wanted, leaving death and destruction in their wake.
The same men mimicking the stances of Isabela, Luisa, and Pepa from the fight before in shadowy bars.
Different men in different cities.
Men – and women - coming to the Encanto, just as they were finishing rebuilding.
A gun.
A dark stain seeping across the chest of a person with hourglasses on their ruana.
"No," breathed Lucía. "Por Dios, please – no."
Different men in different cities - not just in Colombia, but around the world.
Men, women, and children, suffering and dying.
"B-Bruno?" Lucía whispered, tears streaming down her face. "Bruno – you've got to stop. We've seen enough."
Bombs and fires and floods and storms.
"Bruno."
Bridges collapsing
Buildings falling
Boats sinking
"…Bruno!"
Things in the sky, on fire, falling to the earth below -
"Bruno!" Lucía cried, and she took his shoulders in her hands and shook him. "Bruno! Please!"
He turned his head toward her voice, but his eyes were still so very bright green, and she knew he wasn't seeing her. His tears reflected the green that surrounded them, and he gasped.
He was shaking.
"…Lucía," he whispered, and he nearly choked on the words. "I don't want to see any more."
"You've seen enough," she whispered. She slid her arms around his shoulders and pulled his head down to rest on her shoulder. "It's okay to look away, now. Close your eyes, mi amor."
She cradled his head with one hand, threading her fingers through his hair and keeping his face pressed against her shoulder. She wrapped her other arm around his shoulders and squeezed her eyes shut as well, hiding her face in his curls.
They'd both seen things too weighty and terrible to comprehend.
He fell to his knees as the vision collapsed and she staggered to the ground, doing her best to cushion both their falls.
"It's okay," she whispered. "It's okay," she told herself, over and over. "We're okay."
It sounded like a lie.
He clung to her and she clung to him.
It wasn't until he pressed his face into her neck and let out a strangled sob that she joined him. They both cried, sitting tangled in a heap in the sand of his vision room.
When they both spent all the tears they had, Bruno sniffed and apologized. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry you had to see that."
He gently pulled away from her and ran his sleeve across his face, attempting to dry his eyes.
Lucía wasn't sure what to say to that. "…I'm sorry you had to see it, too."
He snorted, and was silent for a while, staring at the stream flowing gently around the little island of sand and stone they sat on. "Not the first time. Doesn't happen often. Never quite…" his voice trailed off. "…so personal."
She let out a snort that turned into a sob and threw her arms around him again. When she tried to say something, she only began sobbing again.
He just held her.
When she quieted, his mouth quirked into a weak smile. "Uh. I – I - "
"Don't - " she whispered. "Don't - "
"I uh – I have this sister, right? And she can – she can heal people. With her food. Maybe - "
It wasn't much, but Lucía held onto that rope he threw her for dear life.
Whether either of them believed it was a different matter, but it was one they couldn't face at the moment.
She was not going to let that happen. She didn't know how, but she was not going to let that future play out.
She just didn't know how.
She tried to push the image of a bloody ruana away out of her mind and focus.
It was hard to focus when everything she'd just seen kept pushing itself right back into her mind.
"Hey." Bruno seemed to shake himself out of his thoughts, and he nudged her so that she refocused on him. "It's not – it's not good to – to – to keep thinking about it. All of it. Trust me."
He frowned and one hand started moving, articulating his points with sharp, shaky movement, his words spilling out and over each other in his rush to explain.
"I just – I see something bad, and I'm terrified, and worried about – about seeing more, but then that's what I'm focused on, and it's just – this cycle. It's like I'm stuck in a whirlpool and I just can't…swim enough against the current to escape it. I have to keep looking. And the thing is – it's not the, the gift keeping me there. It's me. It's like…like pressing on a bruise. I don't want to look and I can feel my gift nudging me away, but at the same time I just…stand there, in the current of it all, staring at – all that - like an idiot, until someone rescues me."
All Lucía could do was stare.
"…thanks for…rescuing me." He mumbled.
She looked away. She didn't really feel like she'd rescued anyone, and she didn't even know how to start processing everything they'd seen.
"…are you okay?" He asked softly.
She wanted to reassure him, but she opened her mouth and nothing came out.
"No, sorry – of course you're not. I'm not, and I – I've done this before."
Lucía's mouth tugged downward and she bit her lip in an effort not to cry again. She scooted a little bit closer to him and he leaned against her, pressing his shoulder to hers. His fingers worried together until she leaned her head on his shoulder, and then they stilled, and he sighed.
"Most of the time," he started, and then stopped again. "Most of the time, when people got upset with me, about a vision? It was over something so relatively stupid, like a goldfish dying, or a plow breaking, or losing their hair in old age."
"Not all of them. Some I - I understood. Who wouldn't be sad knowing a child would be their last, if they'd always wanted more? Who wouldn't be upset if they knew they or someone they loved were going to be hurt, or die? But most of the time, people got angry with me over the dumbest things, Lucía."
She suddenly understood how easy it would have been for her to grow cynical and annoyed and sarcastic with a village that was overly protected to the point they had no clue what was going on in the outside world. She didn't blame him for having something of a reputation for dismissing the misfortune of others.
"And I always tried to - I tried to stay compassionate, I tried to understand." His voice wavered a bit. "I tried to help. Not that they wanted to hear it. But when you've seen the world burning, it's hard to take anger over a dead goldfish seriously."
"I don't blame you," Lucía whispered, and then they were both quiet for a long time, just thinking.
But the longer she sat and thought, the longer she wanted to jump up and run to Tatiana and demand that she watch the vision they'd just seen in its entirety. She wanted her to see the consequences of her actions and she wanted her to change. She wanted Tatiana to change the course of the story before them.
It was time to tell her now.
They probably should have told her ages ago.
Lucía stood and turned to go - to go tell Tatiana, to go get Alma, to do something.She stopped short when Bruno reached up and stopped her with a gentle hand around her wrist.
"Lucía," he said hoarsely. "Wait."
He looked up at her with the saddest, most resigned expression.
She stopped and turned her hand so she held his wrist has he held hers, her palm cradling his and her fingers splayed across his pulse point, their touch feather light but holding each other fast just the same.
"Where are you going?"
"To...to tell Tatiana," she said, and she hated how shrill her voice sounded. "To get Tatiana."
He blinked. His brows furrowed and his expression looked pained - almost hurt.
"Wait - " he said again.
"Bruno!" She whispered. "After what we just saw, you still want to wait? I'm not – I can't wait around and – and just accept what I just saw. I cannot. I can't!"
"Not - not - no," he stuttered. "What I mean is - we need to show Ma and at least send word to the council. They're all involved in this now and - and I want to tell them first. We can send someone to get Tatiana while we meet with them, and then - then we'll tell Tatiana."
"But if we tell Tatiana now, maybe - "
"The council - my family - they need to prepare for the worst. Not just with Tatiana but with – with all that. That we saw. Please, Lucía. Please do this my way. You're right, we need to tell her, today. As soon as possible. Maybe…maybe we should have…"
He shook his head. "We will tell her today. We'll tell the whole town. Just...let's...have my family and the council on our side before we go telling Tatiana she's going to be the - " his voice cracked.
His hand dropped away from hers, and he hung his head. He cleared his throat, ashamed. " - that she's going to be the downfall of the Encanto," he whispered.
Everything about it broke her heart, and she dropped to the ground again and wrapped her arms around him.
"No matter what happens, it's going to be bad," he whispered.
"I know," she said.
"People…might get angry with you. You know. Because…" he motioned between them.
"I know."
"If those men…if they find out…about me. About us…"
She squeezed him tighter. "I know."
"You could…break up with me," he said softly, and his voice wavered.
It took a moment for her to process what he'd just said.
"What?" She pulled away to look at him, horrified. Her heart leapt into her throat and then dove down to her toes, and she felt cold all over. "What...no! Why...why would - "
"People are not going to like this. If you break up with me now, they'll probably sympathize with you and – and – maybe you'll be…safe." His voice got tighter and tighter and he wouldn't look her in the eye. "Maybe it'll be…easier. If – if – when - "
"Bruno." She said sharply. "I am not breaking up with you. Being distant - separating from you will not protect me and it will not protect Josefina. Leaving you is not the answer and it never will be, okay?"
He looked at her like he wanted to believe her.
"Bruno," she said again. "I am not leaving you. And do not ever say something like that in front of Josefina. It would break her heart and make her wonder if you didn't want to be... if you didn't want to be with us anymore. If you didn't love her. If you didn't love me." Her overworked sinuses burned with another incoming of tears and her voice was thick with them. "It breaks my heart."
"I know that you're trying protect me, but that's – you're only hurting me." The horrified expression on his face was enough to demonstrate that he hadn't been thinking clearly, and she understood why - but she still had to make him understand. "The only valid reason for bringing up…breaking up or disbanding our courtship or whatever you would call it is if you believe we're incompatible and would be miserable if we were to stay together. I'm not miserable. Josefina is not miserable. Are you miserable?"
"No! Not at all; not – not with you."
"Do you think it's somehow inevitable that we'll make each other miserable if we stay together?"
Bruno swallowed. "No."
"Because I'd be far more miserable without you."
"…um. S-same. But I'd also be miserable if you died." He was whispering.
Lucía swallowed. "We're all going to die someday." Her words were heavy on her tongue and hard to get out. "And it makes the people we leave behind miserable. But adding more misery to our life by denying ourselves the things and people that make us happy – that make us feel whole again - " her voice wavered. "That isn't any way to live, either."
"I don't want to lose you."
"Then don't suggest we break off our courtship unless you really don't want to be with me."
"That'll never happen. I'll never stop wanting to be with you." He stared at her with red-rimmed, sleep-deprived, sorry eyes, and she clenched her teeth to keep her lower lip from trembling.
"Then please - don't throw that idea around whenever you're afraid. It hurts me and it would devastate Josefina. I know you want to protect us, but we can figure things out together. We will figure this out together. We'll – we'll find a way to – to - "
Her voice and her control broke as he opened his arms and she let herself fall into his embrace, trying not to be too angry at him.
"I'm sorry, Lucía. I'm sorry." She felt him swallow from where she was pressed up against his chest and shoulder. He was holding her so tightly. "You're right. I – I'm scared. I don't want to lose you, and I don't want to – to leave you. I'm sorry. I promise - " he took a deep breath. "I promise I won't do that again. I won't suggest - that, again, just to protect you. I just want you to be okay."
She sighed and hugged him back just as tightly, and then released him and reluctantly pulled herself away. "I just want you to be okay, too. So – what can we do?"
He hesitated.
"Bruno," she said, and her voice was heavy. "Bruno… we need to tell Tatiana. You said it's coming and you don't know how to stop it. We've tried the vision schedule and we just saw it hasn't changed anything – if anything, it's worse, now. The one thing we haven't tried yet is showing her."
Bruno stared at her, his expression unreadable, and he slowly nodded.
"I know," he said. "We'll…look again. Make sure we've got everything down and that everyone is on the same page. And then…we'll tell her."
Lucía released a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding. She nodded and stood, brushing the sand off her skirt. She put her hand out to help him up and he stared at it and sighed.
After a minute, he took it and she helped him up. He followed her to the door of his vision room.
"Lucía?" He said softly behind her.
She paused and looked over her shoulder, her hand on the doorknob.
"Will you help me figure out – what to say? How to tell her?"
This time she looked him in the eye.
"Of course. I'll be with you when you tell her. Lo prometo."
Alma was grave but reassuring when they told her. She nodded and immediately began quietly taking charge, asking Isabela and Luisa to go call the council together for an emergency meeting and Mirabel and Camilo to keep an eye on Antonio and Josefina. She ordered Bruno to sit and rest and asked Julieta to make him something to eat and drink before the next round of visions.
One would think they could just call for Dolores and she'd come, but wedding planning had her complete focus these days and it was getting harder to get her attention. So Lucía offered to go collect Pepa, Félix, and Dolores from the Guzmáns.
Unfortunately, she never made it that far.
She'd barely made it past Sofia and Lorenzo's when a familiar figure on a spirited black gelding came trotting around the corner, passed her, and continued on toward the road out of the Encanto.
Lucía's brisk, purposeful stride slowed to a stop, her eyes wide as she slowly processed what she'd just seen.
Tatiana Valencia, leaving town.
She stared straight ahead, seeing nothing, her mind whirring and her heart sinking lower with every beat.
Oh no.
Oh no.
Not now – not now – not when Bruno was going to tell her!
Not now, when she'd just seen the future play out and knew what would happen once Tatiana met up with the men from the city.
She had to stop her.
If there was even the smallest chance the future could be changed –
They'd never even thought to look for butterflies, earlier.
And the vision – it had – as Bruno said – flashed back and forth, before -
Maybe – maybe something could change.
Maybe they still had a choice.
Maybe Tatiana still had a choice.
Almost of their own accord, her feet turned in the direction of Sofia and Lorenzo's, and then broke into a run for the second time that day.
She didn't even bother trying to find Sofia and Lorenzo when she saw Nero in the stall.
Nero was already bridled, and Nero was fast and strong. She threw open the stall doors, led him out of the barn, and her skirts flared out around her as she mounted him. There was no time to saddle him, but she'd ridden bareback before.
She urged Nero into a trot, and then a canter, and then a full-on gallop.
She prayed she could reach Tatiana before Tatiana reached the river.
(She couldn't do a thing to save Alejandro. She'd never forgive herself if she didn't do everything in her power to save Bruno.)
"We've been over this, kid," Bruno said tiredly, preparing the leaves in the sand circle of his room for another vision.
Mirabel frowned. Her ma and pa should be up here any minute, and Abuela was waiting at the door for Tía Pepa and Tío Félix to arrive. If Dolores had heard Lucía coming, they should be here soon, too.
Antonio and Josefina were safely tucked away in Antonio's room with Camilo watching over them. He'd told her to go see what all the fuss was about and report back to him.
("I'm better at sneaking," he said. "But you're the fancy miracle holder and all now, so maybe they'll actually tell you something.")
Bruno rolled a match between his fingers. "Let us carry this load. Believe me, you do not want to see any more of this than you absolutely have to, and – and it will be up to your ma and pa what they want to tell you, or – or let you see – and – yo -"
He dropped the match and his eyes glowed green and he gasped.
The wind began to pick up around them and Mirabel looked nervously to the door, which was still open and still empty.
He stretched out his hand and Mirabel took it. She wasn't sure what he wanted, but he only felt his way to the ground and she helped him kneel. When his knees touched the ground, he released her hand and gripped a fistful of sand. The box of matches was still clutched tightly in the other.
"Tío Bruno?"
His lips parted in horror.
"Oh, Lucía," he choked. "Lucía – what did you do?"
Lucía spurred Nero on, faster and faster, until she saw Tatiana ahead of them, in a steady canter, nearly to the bend that wound around the base of the mountains before it reached the river.
"Tatiana!" Lucía shouted. "Tatiana, stop!"
She squeezed her heels against Nero's flank and he sped up, gaining quickly on Tatiana and her horse.
"Tatiana Valencia! Por el amor de Dios, Tatiana, STOP!"
Tatiana looked over her shoulder and her brow furrowed in confusion and, as Lucía approached and she recognized her, in disdain. She turned back around and lifted her chin. She moved her horse to the side to allow Lucía to pass but showed no indication of slowing or stopping
"Tatiana!" Lucía shouted, and pulled up beside her. Their horses snorted warily, and Nero tried to shy away, but Lucía got him back under control and both horses stayed the course. "Tatiana, stop! Don't do this!"
Tatiana looked at her as if she were absolutely insane. And to be honest, she probably looked it. "Get away from me, you madwoman. What's wrong with you?"
"Tatiana – please – just – stop for a minute and I'll tell you everything, but – you need to stop!"
"I have someone waiting for me just across the river and an important business transaction to take care of, and I will not stop. I - "
Lucía knew it was risky – but letting Tatiana reach that river and lead those men to the Encanto was an even worse option. She reached over and grabbed hold of Tatiana's reigns and tugged sharply on them.
Tatiana shrieked and slapped her hand away as her horse faltered. "Are you trying to kill me?! Get off!"
But Lucía had done what she intended to do and pulled ahead before slowing and stopping Nero. She turned him so that he stood across the road and blocked it, and he pranced and pawed nervously as Tatiana approached.
By the time Tatiana had her horse back under control, she was forced to stop short.
"What the hell is wrong with you?!" Tatiana gasped. "Lucía Moreno, if I had my way, you'd be thrown in jail for attempted murder. I thought you'd be a little subtler in your attempts to sabotage me, but I guess I was wrong! That was blatant assault! Just wait until the town hears about this!"
Mirabel didn't waste any time. She pried her tío's fingers from the matchbox and fumbled with the matches until she finally managed to get one to catch.
He wasn't going to have to see this alone if she could help it.
She lit the leaf piles and placed her hands on top of his – his hand still fisted, his knuckles still pressed into the ground, and she looked at his vision as the sand rose around them.
The vision was such a fractured rush of flashing images it was hard to make sense of any of it – but a few images stood out terribly clearly.
Tatiana, arguing with Luc ía in the jungle.
Two women - Tatiana and Luc ía, exhausted, sitting together and shivering on a fallen log.
Unfamiliar men wandering the same jungle.
Those same men, looting the Encanto and at war with her family.
Tío Bruno was right.
The things she saw would stay with her forever.
Mirabel's eyes widened in horror as the vision progressed and then, with a deep breath, she squeezed her eyes shut and wrapped her arms around her tío's neck, burying her face into his shoulder.
"Tío…" she whimpered.
"…Mi…Mirabel?" He gasped, and he reached blindly for her, wrapping his arms around her and holding her close. "Mirabel - "
"I lit the leaves, Tío," she whispered, and she was ashamed of how her voice shook when she said it.
"Oh, Mira - " he said, and he cradled her head to his shoulder, trying to keep her from seeing. "Don't look. Don't look, Mirabel - "
"Too late."
She felt him tense. "It's – it's okay. I've got this. It's almost over. You're almost done. Just don't look anymore."
She peeked one last time at the images in the green sand swirling around her.
Blood seeping across the chest of a man with hourglasses on his ruana.
No.
Her tío took a deep breath, gained control, and cut it off.
But when he pulled away, gently holding her at arm's length – she couldn't look at him.
"Mirabel?"
She pulled away and covered her face with her hands and bent over until her forehead touched the ground.
Only one word escaped her, but she felt it with all her heart and soul –
"No."
Don't let them in.
Don't let that happen.
"No."
"Tatiana - "
Tatiana slid off her horse and pressed gently against his chest, encouraging him to back away from Lucía and Nero and inspecting him for any evidence of injury or distress with efficiency and surprising gentleness.
"…not that they listen to me anymore, anyway. Nice bit of manipulation on your part, Señora. You've got them in your pocket, now, don't you? Even if they don't believe me when I tell them what you did, if my horse suffers because of you you're going to pay. You'll give me the pick of your sister's lot."
Lucía slid off of Nero to calm him as well, but she'd only just begun to soothe him when Tatiana rounded on her.
"No – you know what? Being buddy-buddy with the Madrigals has made you cocky, Señora. You think you can just ride up to me, shouting at me to stop, and I'll obey like you're some – some Queen of the Encanto?" Tatiana laughed bitterly. "Well I'm sorry to disappoint you, Señora, but I don't answer to the Madrigals and I certainly don't answer to you."
Lucía probably would have heard a lot more if at that moment, a burst of golden light hadn't pulsed across the ground like a ripple of sound from a gong. It made both women stagger and both horses spook.
Nero broke away first, and then Tatiana's with him, and both horses turned and ran back toward the Encanto before either woman could stop them.
"Mirabel. Mirabel – hey kid – mija - you okay?"
Mirabel slowly moved her hands from her face and opened her eyes. She found herself leaning against her uncle, and she shifted her legs out from under her. Small piles of sand spilled from her shoulders and skirt and hair. "Tío Bruno? What happened?"
"I – I don't know. There was that vision, and then you saw it, and you just – you just said 'No'." His voice was thick with emotion, but he cleared his throat and pressed on. "…but then there was – I don't know – a sort of pfffft of gold out from under you and everything shook and the sand dome just sort of - collapsed."
Mirabel's expression froze and she twisted, looking around and inspecting the floors and the walls for cracks.
Bruno scooted away slightly as she moved and followed her desperate gaze.
"Hey, no – none of that. I don't know what that was, but everything – everything…" his voice trailed off and whatever platitude he was going to offer her died on his lips. He swallowed and he closed his eyes and Mirabel knew he was thinking of Lucía. Of the future. Of his future.
She reached out and tentatively laid a hand on his arm. "Tío Bruno?"
He nodded, but still didn't open his eyes, and Mirabel bit her lip. "Is…is all that...everything we saw…?"
"I…I don't know. I don't know!" He rubbed a hand over his face and then laid it over her hand on his arm. "Everything – everything was such a mess, wasn't it?" He shook his head and laughed bitterly. "It's like – like someone tipped the hourglass sideways and everything – all the pieces – all the sand just – mixed together in a million different ways."
Mirabel nodded and sat there across from her Tío Bruno and thought. She looked back up at him and squared her shoulders. "Okay. Okay. We're just - going to have to look again. Try and – piece things together and – and – look for butterflies! We can look for butterflies and we'll – we'll find Lucía and – and see if there's something we can do - "
Bruno's mouth twitched at the corners and his face was resigned.
"Bruno! Bruno – what happened, we saw – " Abuela and Pepa and Félix and Ma and Pa all tumbled into the room at the same time. "Mirabel?!"
Mirabel swallowed but she couldn't find it in her to fake a smile this time.
"I think – we're gonna need a miracle. Another one." Her voice wavered and her parents immediately joined her on the ground in the middle of the vision circle, sandwiching her in a loving hug.
Dolores poked her head out from behind her madre with wide eyes staring straight at Mirabel. "I think we might have already gotten one."
"You've got to be kidding me," Lucía said as Tatiana marched away from her down the road, in the direction of the river. She hiked up her skirts and caught up to her, completely incredulous. "You're still going?"
"And why not?" Tatiana sniffed. "Whatever weird magic is going on with the Madrigal family is their problem – and, by your own design, yours too, I suppose. Why should it affect me and my business dealings? I may not have a horse but I have two legs. I'm sure Señor Pendroza will give me a ride back into town. I can still make it!"
Lucía stopped for a moment and just stared after her, then shook herself out of her stupor. Tatiana hadn't even given her a chance to tell her anything at all – she'd just picked herself up, brushed herself off, and set off for the river again.
"Tatiana, that's what I'm trying to tell you – if you go to that meeting you're going to doom us all!"
She winced as soon as she said it. It sure sounded ridiculous when she said it like that without any context, even if it was true.
"Ooohohoho no," Tatiana said with a shake of her head and quickened her pace. "No, Señora. No. You don't get to come into my life just when I'm achieving all my goals and tell me some brujo with a stutter and an evil eye cursed me with a bad vision. I don't have to listen to this. I am not going to listen to this!"
Lucía nearly jogged to keep up with her. "Tatiana, if you 'make it' to that meeting at the river, your Señor Pendroza will not give you a ride back into town. He's going to – he's going to betray you!"
Tatiana shot her a dark glance. "Betray me?! I'm making him rich! Why would he betray me?"
"I don't know!" Lucía threw up her hands in frustration. "Because he's greedy? Because you're leading him right to the source of all the Encanto's resources?"
Tatiana snorted. "I don't believe you. You're just jealous."
"I am not - " Lucía would have grabbed her arm if she didn't think Tatiana would slap her across the face in retaliation. If they made it much further, though, she'd tackle her to the ground if she needed to. Maybe she'd listen if she sat on her. "Tatiana, I saw you greeting a group of men in a truck. I saw the road to the Encanto disappearing. I saw you with a knife to your throat and men looting the Encanto and burning the city and I saw – I saw you in the woods! You were on the ground and you were hurt and I'm trying to help you, you – you - stubborn fool!"
Tatiana wheeled around and glared at her. "I'm stubborn?! You're the one chasing me down and following me right out of the town you're so desperate to protect. If this vision of me was so terrible, why didn't anyone else come tell me about it? Why didn't Bruno Madrigal himself chase me down and give me the bad news? Where's the rest of la familia Madrigal, hmm?"
Bruno was right all along. Talking to Tatiana was hopeless. Lucía didn't think there was anything she could say or do that would keep her from meeting with the men who would seal their fate.
It didn't help that she was sort of…right.
"Tatiana," Lucía tried desperately, one last time. "We were going to come get you. In the vision, Juan was crying. Your husband and son were - "
Tatiana wavered at that and turned on her, narrowing her eyes and pinching her thumb and forefinger together. "Don't you dare bring my family into this. I may have my problems with you and the Madrigals but never once have I brought your child into this."
Lucía's steps faltered and her hope faltered with it.
She'd followed her for nothing.
Lucía debated whether or not she wanted to continue following Tatiana and keep trying or if she really would have to try tackling her. It wasn't something she was keen on - she wasn't even sure if it was something she could actually do - but she was feeling incredibly desperate. It was probably too late to turn around and try and make it back to the Encanto before Tatiana and her acquaintances did. After all - they'd have a truck, and Lucía had lost her horse.
And then Tatiana stopped short in front of her and Lucía nearly ran into her.
When she looked up, she saw exactly why Tatiana had stopped.
They turned the bend to the river and there was no river. There was no road. There was nothing but trees and vines and jungle, as far as she could see.
Tatiana's mouth dropped open and for the first time Lucía saw doubt in her eyes. "What…what is this?"
She turned to Lucía and gestured to the new forest of trees and brush that had sprung up seemingly overnight. "What is this?"
Lucía shivered as she took in the wall of foliage before them. "I…this is part of the vision. It's already – the road is already gone…"
"Is this Isabela's doing?" Tatiana asked, but though her voice was hard, it lacked any real fire. "I know Señor Garcia made a trip into town yesterday and he didn't mention having to hack through a jungle."
"No…" Lucía said quietly. "I don't think so. I think – remember that – that light we felt earlier? I think…it might be the Encanto protecting itself? I think the Miracle might have done this."
The thought filled her with relief and reignited the smoldering hope inside her. Maybe it wasn't too late.
"Protecting itself from what?"
Lucía drew in a slow breath and prayed for the words to say to make her understand. "From…the men. From San Cristobál. Your Señor…Pendroza?"
Tatiana stepped back. Her eyes narrowed at Lucía and her lips pressed together into a fine line. "Señor Pendroza is harmless. Perhaps he's a bit too heavy on the flattering but he's got a good eye for quality and pays well for it."
Something in Lucía snapped at the carelessness of her words. She'd just seen the world she knew go up in smoke and the second chance she had at love going with it. This woman told her the instigator of it all was harmless. She shook with the force of her anger and opened her mouth to tell Tatiana exactly what she saw that harmless man do, but Tatiana wasn't listening.
She sniffed and eyed the trees before them. "…but I'm not going in there. I suppose - " she frowned and huffed. "I suppose I'll have to go home and figure something else out. No thanks to you."
She turned on her heel and Lucía followed right behind her, reigning in her anger for the time being. Tatiana needed to hear about Bruno's vision – but maybe Bruno was right. Maybe having other people around that Tatiana respected (if there was anyone left in the Encanto she respected) would help her accept it. But when they turned around the curve in the mountain, heading back toward the Encanto –
- the path back home was gone as well.
Tatiana stopped in her tracks and paled and darted a look at Lucía. She wasn't sure if it was panicked or accusatory, but either way Lucía didn't blame her.
"What kind of trick is this?"
All Lucía could do was look back at her and shake her head slightly, her anger snuffed out in the face of her confusion and growing fear. She looked over her shoulder and then straight ahead again, trying to make sense of where they were and what was going on.
The road beneath their feet looked like nothing more than a worn path, a clearing in the woods.
Hadn't it been well-worn, packed dirt and stone just a moment ago?
Lucía tried not to panic as she took in the dense trees, vines, and ferns that looked the same from every direction. She spun slowly in a circle, trying to assess where they were, what was going on, and what their options were.
Válgame Dios, they needed help.
"What do you mean, Dolores?"
"Bruno, what happened?"
"…"
"…it's not his fault, he was already having a vision. Unexpectedly. And I – I lit the leaves. I just thought, if I could see - "
"There was magic in the street, just like when Casita came back - "
"You let her see that vision?"
Bruno shook his head, unable to speak. It was hard to breathe. Was this how Lucía felt when she saw what would happen to him?
"Well, ah – I – I wouldn't say he let me, I just kinda - "
"Mirabel – mija – come here, come here, let's get all this sand off of you – are you hurt?"
"No, Ma - "
" – and it spread out all around, and we think it came from Casita - "
"Was it her?"
"I don't know!"
"Mamá, does it feel any different to you? The Miracle?"
"…I - I don't have the same connection to it that I used to."
"Mirabel, are you okay? Does…it feel different to you?"
"…I did something, Pa. I…don't know what I did, but I was afraid, and I…I did something. I'm sorry. Tío Bruno, I'm sorry – I'm sorry - "
"…Bruno? Are you okay?"
Everyone that had been talking over each other at once stopped and looked at Bruno. They'd been so focused on Mirabel that no one noticed how haggard he looked or how haunted his eyes were.
He swallowed. "Lucía didn't come get you, did she." His voice was flat and resigned, and he already knew the answer.
Pepa and Félix looked at each other. "No."
"Dolores – can you hear her?"
Dolores frowned and tilted her head, and then looked confused. "I – can sort of hear her. But it's strange. I can't tell where she is, it just sounds – like an echo. Soft and muffled. I can only hear her when I concentrate and I can't tell what direction it's coming from." She squeaked and looked at Bruno with wide, scared eyes. "Señora Valencia is with her?"
Bruno put his face in his hands and took a deep, shuddering breath.
"…Bruno?" He felt a hand on his arm, and he felt tears prick his eyes. He just shook his head. What could he possibly say to explain everything he'd just seen – and would have to see again, when he showed them?
And Lucía…hadn't she just said that they would do this together? That they needed to do this together? She'd promised.
What had changed? Why had she gone off and done…that?
"Tío Bruno. We'll look for butterflies. There's got to be butterflies, right? There's always butterflies. We'll find a different way. Okay?" Mirabel's voice was desperate and pleading.
He didn't trust himself to speak, so he nodded instead.
He was too numb for hope.
Maybe Mirabel had enough for them all.
Lucía knew that the best thing to do when you were lost in the woods was to stay put, stay loud, and stay visible. If you expected to wait a significant amount of time for rescue, you should find a source of water (and thus, food), and then stay put.
Those rules didn't seem to apply in this situation for two reasons. Reason one: the trees seemed to deliberately arrange themselves in such a way as to make them lost in the first place.
Reason two: Her companion (for lack of a better word) insisted that if they just pressed through the trees they'd surely come upon the Encanto at some point, and trying to go home seemed considerably smarter than waiting just across the river from men who she knew were dangerous.
Besides, the moment they'd left the clearing it turned itself into just another copse of trees.
They walked for an hour in what they both agreed was the direction of home, in tense silence that made the crashing of the brush underfoot seem even louder.
When they still hadn't come across anything even faintly familiar after an hour, Lucía tersely suggested that perhaps they should rest and regroup and come up with a plan, and Tatiana, surprisingly, didn't argue.
They tried climbing the tallest tree they could to see where they were and get their bearings. (Neither one of them was particularly adept at tree climbing. Tatiana gave up after getting two feet off the ground. Lucía only made it another foot before calling it quits herself. The last thing she needed was a broken leg on top of being lost in the woods with her arch-nemesis.
Because after everything she'd seen, that label was more than fitting, now.)
They tried yelling for Dolores, but after sitting for what felt like half an hour and yelling nearly continuously, nothing had happened – not an animal from Antonio with a note, and not a single indication that they were even in a place where Dolores could hear them. Lucia's throat was sore and as time wore on, she knew they'd need to find something to eat and drink.
She sat quietly for a moment, sending up a silent prayer and trying her hardest to work out how, exactly, this had happened, and what, exactly, she was going to do to get home to her family.
She reviewed what she knew:
Tatiana was going to greet some men and lead them to the Encanto. The men would take what they wanted and burn the rest. The road would disappear…
That part was out of order. The road was gone now and the men hadn't come yet.
But they would come, and wreak havoc, and then they'd leave, and they'd tell others about them, and more would come.
And Bruno would be shot.
She clenched her jaw and pressed her shaking hands into her skirts.
The men weren't here yet, so – so that future couldn't be set in stone. It couldn't be the only option.
They hadn't even looked for butterflies.
So if the road already disappeared, was the Encanto preventing them from coming in? Was it protecting itself? It seemed logical, especially considering the pulse of golden light they'd experienced just before everything went to hell in a handbasket.
…if the Encanto was preventing the danger from coming in, where they just caught in the middle? Were they just the unlucky ones? Lucía snorted.
If Bruno were here, he'd be knocking on wood.
And Josefina…
Lucía shook her head. She couldn't let her thoughts wander down that road. Josefina was in the Encanto, in Casita, with the Madrigals. If anything, she was in the safest place she could possibly be at the moment.
Lucía needed to concentrate on making it home to her.
Right.
Either they were just unlucky, in the wrong place at the wrong time, or the Encanto was preventing the danger from coming in…
Lucía sucked in a breath as she realized that perhaps – perhaps the Encanto also considered Tatiana a danger. She brought the men here, after all.
Maybe that's why they were lost.
And if the Encanto's magic had rejected Tatiana, then maybe Lucía could find her way back if she went…alone?
She didn't even feel guilty for the thought. She'd come out here to give Tatiana a chance to change the future, to save them all - and Tatiana, as always, dismissed her and ridiculed her and blamed Bruno instead.
But the fact that her desire to walk away into the jungle and leave Tatiana behind stemmed from a place of seething anger made her pause. Acting on anger – even righteous anger – wasn't something she was accustomed to doing.
She thought of Juan crying for his mother.
Even if Tatiana deserved that fate, after all she'd done - Juan didn't.
If she did leave Tatiana and make it back to the Encanto, how would she ever be able to look Juan in the eye again?
So, back around to the beginning – they were lost in a magic jungle. Either they were simply unlucky, or they were purposefully being kept out of the Encanto.
If it was the first, maybe – maybe she could ask for some help.
Casita responded to Mirabel when she talked to her. Maybe the magic that protected the Encanto could understand someone trying to talk to it, too. It obviously understood enough to know that there was danger nearby that should be kept out of the Encanto.
Lucía stood suddenly and Tatiana startled and stood as well.
Lucía put her hand to a tree, smoothing its rough bark against her palm. "Hola, arbolito," she said softly.
Tatiana made a skeptic, judgmental sound in the back of her throat, and Lucía ignored her. "Hola, magic. Hola, Encanto," she continued politely. "I was just wondering – could you please – please let us back in? I really, really want to go home now."
Tatiana snorted. "Why are you talking to the trees? Have you lost it completely? First you grab my horse's reigns and nearly ride me off the road, and now you're talking to trees?" She sat back down and scowled and muttered. "I'm trapped in the forest with a complete fool."
Lucía bristled. "For your information, Tatiana, Mirabel talks to Casita all the time. If Casita understands, perhaps the forest understands too."
"That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard. It's a tree."
"Well, the Encanto erased the path home because of something. It's trying to protect itself – to protect everyone that lives there. And the only thing that the Encanto would consider a threat would be people. People like the ones that caused it to form in the first place. Obviously it understands something of what's in people's hearts. Maybe it will respond to what's in mine."
"Only God knows what's in a person's heart," Tatiana sounded horrified, and the 'you heathen' was clearly implied.
"If God could speak through a burning bush and part the seas and make a donkey talk, why on earth would you think it impossible for him to use a forest to confuse an unworthy traveler?" Lucía met Tatiana's glare with one of her own.
She might be unlucky for being stuck in the jungle with Tatiana Valencia, but she was beginning to believe that luck didn't have anything to do with the reason they were stuck in the first place.
Tatiana raised her eyebrow. "I don't like what you're insinuating."
"Fine. I'll stop insinuating. You did something, Tatiana. I think you did something that caused the Encanto to reject you – and I think it was bringing those men to the Encanto. I think this is your fault. Everything - " Lucía's voice wavered, hoarse from the tears she spent earlier that afternoon and from shouting for help. "- everything is all your fault. And if it all plays out the way Bruno saw it in his vision, I don't think I'll ever be able to forgive you for it."
Tatiana's brow puckered and her mouth opened but Lucía was done listening to her.
"You're done talking, Tatiana. You're done talking and you're done scheming and you're done playing the victim. I don't know why you hate me so much. I don't know why you hate Bruno so much. But even though you don't deserve it, we are trying to help you! Get it through your impossibly stubborn skull – I AM TRYING TO KEEP YOU FROM GETTING YOURSELF AND HALF THE ENCANTO KILLED!"
She then proceeded to explain the vision Bruno had, in great detail.
Tatiana stopped trying to interrupt her halfway through and sat with an increasingly uneasy expression on her face for the remainder of Lucía's rapid-fire, cold, and very thorough explanation.
Bruno didn't have time to offer explanations about what was going to happen or what he'd seen. The council arrived and cramming eight other people plus his mother and siblings into his vision circle was not easy.
In the end, his siblings and their spouses volunteered to leave. Julieta and Agustín would cook; Pepa and Félix and Dolores would update the rest of the family, monitor the village, and help Camilo keep Antonio and Josefina occupied. Isabela and Luisa, along with a small group of level headed villagers, went to see if they could meet Tatiana and Lucía as they came home along the road. Bruno warned them danger was coming and not to go far - if they could even go anywhere at all.
Mirabel insisted on staying with Bruno, and this time, her parents didn't argue with her.
Dolores had been right – Mirabel had done something – something connected to the miracle - and they still weren't sure what.
That is – they weren't sure until he brought up the vision again.
The vision was wavering and flashing and changing so much it made Señora Álvarez a little sick to her stomach. She closed her eyes and Señor Ruiz took to quietly, quickly explaining each image as it came up.
A man with a weathered face and a tightly set square jaw in a truck with a group of other men. He wears a straw hat with a hole in the brim.
Tatiana lifting a hand to the same truck in greeting –
The image froze and exploded and dissolved and was replaced with something new –
The man in the truck checking his wristwatch with a dark look on his face.
The road to the Encanto disappearing, covered with foliage.
Tatiana on the forest floor with her hair fanned out around her, a gash on her cheek and her forehead marred with a large bruise –
Again, the image shattered and was replaced with the image of Tatiana and Lucía – the two women huddled together on a fallen log.
Villagers – including Bruno – searching through the woods.
Bruno, pushing aside a large fern to find them.
Men on horseback, men with a wagon, men with weapons – near the fountain in the town square of the Encanto; looting shops and burning the rest –
Buildings being ransacked, goods being piled high in the cart, people being threatened with guns and knives and pitchforks and machetes, the town hall burning –
There were sounds of disbelief and dismay from everyone in the circle and Bruno felt his madre on one said and Mirabel on the other, squeezing his hands.
The images shattered and dissolved like so many tejo targets.
The men in the truck, still on San Cristob ál's side of the river, arguing amongst themselves.
In rapid succession, so fast that it made even Bruno dizzy, the images that had so horrified him popped like bubbles and rearranged themselves into something new and different.
Luisa, fighting against seven men at once, her expression one of pure horror – became the men from the truck crossing the river alone.
Isabela, wrapping several of the men in her vines, an enraged snarl on her face – became the men from the truck wandering the jungle, one tangled in natural vines.
Antonio, hiding – Antonio and Josefina dashing through the jungle on Parce's back, Luisa running behind them.
Pepa raging in the town square, wind and lightning surrounding her – Pepa, snowing and hailing as Josefina flung herself into her mother's arms.
The men, fleeing – the men returning to San Cristobál with angry faces and an empty truck.
"What's going on?" Señor Ruiz asked in awe. "I've never seen such a thing before."
"Neither have I," Bruno admitted. "But – but - "
"It's…what we saw before," Mirabel said. "But it's changing. We haven't even looked for butterflies and everything's changing!" Mirabel said. "…how is everything changing?"
Before Bruno could respond, the vision continued.
The same men in other cities, continuing to take what they wanted, leaving death and destruction in their wake.
That one didn't change.
Tatiana in San Cristob ál, selling goods.
The same men in San Cristob ál once more.
And then – to everyone's dismay – the vision that had been changed before, repeating itself.
Tatiana with a knife to her throat and a bruise on her cheek, leading the men along the road to the Encanto.
The men looting and burning, the Madrigals and the village fighting back -
They hadn't changed a thing.
They'd only delayed it for a little while.
A/N:
Por el amor de Dios - For the love of God
Válgame Dios - Oh my God/God save me
Hola, arbolito - Hello, little tree
Big huge thanks to impossiblefangirl0632 and Britt30 on ao3 who beta'd this chapter for me. All the mistakes are still mine. :)
Anyway please feel free to yell at me in the comment section. Thanks for reading! 3