Encanto Shorts

Chapter 7: In The Middle Of The Night/Reboot

Bruno woke up, gasping, with his head pounding.

"No. No no no no no..." he muttered, even as he rushed out of bed and started getting dressed. This couldn't be happening. It hadn't happened since he was a child, he thought he'd outgrown it!

"Ay, ay, I'm coming! Yeesh." He waved at the air as if warding something away, then yelled as the pain in his head pulsed viciously. He grabbed Ratito and put the half-asleep rat into his pocket, ignoring his squeaks of protest.

He pushed open the door of his bedroom — hidden behind one of the sand fountains shaped like his face in his temple (he loved secret doors) — and ran into his vision cave as fast as he could, crashing to his knees hard enough to hurt.

Whatever, he'd get a snack from the kitchen if it kept bothering him later. It didn't hurt worse than the headache — few things did. Though, luckily, the pain in his head had receded slightly once he got to his vision cave.

He spent a moment panting in relief, but didn't dare waste too much time, experience telling him the pain would come back with a vengeance if he did. A shaky hand sought out the box of matches in his ruana and began lighting the incense. He was more thankful than ever that he always kept the space ready for a vision — take that, self, it wasn't just his paranoia!

He breathed in deeply, watching the smoke twirling into the air, and grinned even as the pain increased once more. He could do this again. He could do this without anyone caring again. With a thought, he had sand flowing out of the wall fountains in his temple, curling around the edge of his vision cave.

"Let's go," he muttered, eyes flickering to green, hair whipping around his face as the wind picked up.

Why don't you cut it? so many people asked.

What? And ruin the aesthetic? he always wanted to reply.

He didn't, of course, that sounded far too much as if he liked his 'curse', and the villagers wouldn't like that. But that didn't change the fact that he wanted to say it.

The pain faded quickly as the sand and smoke formed an almost solid mass around him, green images shining and shifting within them, with the occasional pop of gold. The gold thing didn't used to happen, but then Mirabel and her butterfly and the reboot on the magic, and well...

Reboot. Maybe that was why this was happening again. Bruno sighed, leaned back on his hands, and waited for his powers to show him whatever was so important as to wake him in the middle of the night.

He'd get used to the forced visions again, he knew. He wouldn't have a choice. A part of him was almost grateful, actually; at least this way he wouldn't be able to come up with excuses to avoid using his powers for another ten years. Because he would do that, if he could.

Using his powers only ever led to people being angry at him. Cursing him out, calling him a curse. Wanting him gone. Using his powers almost never led to anything good, and it was better for everyone if he just didn't.

But, oh, how he loved using them. Feeling possibility, tasting paradox, seeing all of time stretched out before him in an incomprehensible mass and making a part of it understandable, if only just — there wasn't anything else like it in the world.

He would avoid it if he could. But it looked like that wasn't going to be an option. And he was grateful for the impending forced visions every bit as much as he was dreading them, which was admittedly a lot.