Encanto Shorts

Chapter 6: Arepas Now, Yelling Later, She's Bleeding Out

"Don't worry, hermana, we'll find her," Pepa promised, rubbing her hands up and down Julieta's arms before leaving to join the search.

Julieta sighed, returning to her cooking, staying behind just in case her daughter came back. Mirabel hadn't been seen since breakfast, no-one in town knew where she was, and it was already well past sunset.

A door slammed open, startling Julieta. She whirled around, not knowing what to expect, and froze at what she saw. It... It couldn't be. But it was.

"Bruno?" Julieta whispered in disbelief. Her brother was standing in the doorway, green ruana and all, a little scruffier but almost exactly the same as she last saw him. His eyes were wide, his body tense, as if he hadn't expected to see her any more than she had expected to see him.

Her nervous, flighty little twin brother was the one to move first. She expected him to run away, but he ran towards her instead, his face twisted in panic. "Arepas now, yelling later, she's bleeding out."

It was then that Julieta saw the bundle he had clutched in his arms. Mirabel, precious Mirabel, her Mirabel was unconscious, covered in dirt and blood in her uncle's arms. He held her in one arm, his other reaching to rifle through cabinets.

"Gracias, Casita," he mumbled as the house brought food to him. Julieta cleared off the counter for him to set Mirabel down, helping to prop her up (oh God the blood so much blood what happened what–) and get the food down her throat. Bruno let out a sob as the injuries cleared, covering his mouth with his hand, apparently uncaring to the dirt and blood on his fingers. "It worked, she's fine, I did it, I wasn't too late, she's fine."

"Bruno, calm down. Bruno!" Julieta laid Mirabel down carefully and shook her brother as he started spiraling, trying to stop him from having a panic attack, the action instinctual even after... ten years. How was he here..? His eyes, less green than she remembered but not quite the brown they once were, snapped to her. "What happened, why..? How..?"

"D-dream," Bruno stuttered, looking away and hunching into himself. It broke Julieta's heart to realize that he wanted to be anywhere but there. "I had... Saw her. I saw her, in a dream. She was at the mountains, I don't know why, and she fell badly. I went as fast as I could, but she was so far away, I wasn't sure... But I got there, and I got her here, and she's fine, a-and my vision didn't mean..."

"You did good, hermano," Julieta promised. Her brother straightened a little, gaze meeting hers once again, a tiny smile tugging at his lips for just a moment before disappearing entirely. He always reacted like that to praise, so gleeful and a little surprised, and the sight warmed a place inside Julieta she'd thought had died long ago.

She reached out a hand, cupping his cheek. He flinched before leaning into the touch, so quickly she knew it was to make sure she didn't think he was scared and pull away, and she couldn't decide whether to laugh or cry when he did it. He always flinched when he was nervous, even with family, and the moment was just so familiar...

Julieta decided on crying, pulling him into a hug. He tensed for just a moment before melting into it, sobbing as his arms tightened around her. "Lo siento, hermana, lo siento. Don't cry, please don't cry, I-I'm sorry, don't–"

"Where have you been?" Julieta asked, her breath hitching. He was here, he was here, he was here. She could feel him, he was real, this was actually happening. "Hermano, where have you been? Ten years... It's been ten years."

"I, I, I know. I'm sorry, lo siento," Bruno gasped out, struggling out of her hold and backing towards the door. She was too taken by surprise to stop him. "I shouldn't have... I'll go, I'm gone, you don't have to... Don't yell at me," he ended in a whisper, wincing.

He was leaving. He was almost to the door. He was almost gone. Again.

"Casita, don't you dare let him leave," Julieta said quickly. Bruno made a betrayed sound deep in his throat when all the doors and windows slammed shut, locks clicking. She glared at him, making him cower. She ignored the part of her, the large part of her, that wanted to comfort him. "Tell me you are joking, Bruno. Tell me you weren't just about to leave all over again, after ten years."

Bruno opened and closed his mouth a few times before weakly replying, "I... don't really like lying, y-y-you know that."

"I'm going to ask you again, hermano," Julieta said quietly, her voice bringing to mind one of her sister's storms, "and this time you are going to answer me. Where. The Hell. Have you been?"

Bruno swallowed, looking resigned. Still, he tried one last time, "You can say she found her way home. Say something magical happened. It can be like I was never here, no-one has to know, you can just forget me again."

"Forget you?" Julieta laughed, broken and humorless. "Forget you? Not one day has passed where I haven't thought about you, Brunito."

"But... The ban..." Bruno looked disbelieving. "You only talk about me to warn people. The Curse Of Encanto. My own sobrinos barely know I exist. My room is a forbidden place. Of course you forgot me. Why wouldn't you?"

"Bruno, I–" She paused, eyes wide. "How do you know about your room?"

Bruno went silent.

"Only the family knows your room is off limits, you couldn't have heard that from anyone else," Julieta whispered. "How do you..?"

"...Did you know there's tunnels in Casita's walls?" Bruno answered quietly, looking down.

"What?" Julieta knew she was still breathing, her heart was still beating, but she felt as if everything had stopped. He couldn't be saying... He wasn't... It wasn't possible.

Silently, Bruno approached her. He gently grabbed her hand, not meeting her eyes, and led her out to the dining room, to the painting of their family tree. He pointed to a crack she'd never noticed before. "Look. Just... look."

She did.

Mirabel woke up to the sound of her mother's wails.