Live To Serve, Serve To Live

Chapter 3: Random Scene 1: The Tunnel

"T-there's a tunnel?" Bruno asked, eyes wide as he stared at the circular entrance.

"Two, actually," she replied, not commenting on his lack of knowledge. Most people in Encanto didn't actually know how to leave. They didn't care enough to know. She twisted slightly on her horse, smirking at him. "You aren't scared of the dark, are you?" she teased.

He wasn't, actually. Dark was... Dark was his rats. His room. His hideout in the walls. Hernando and Jorge, because their eyes were always covered. When he and his hermanas were young and would hide under the bed together because one of them was having a bad day.

Dark was safety.

Tunnels, however, were not.

He eyed the trees next to the tunnel, gently steering his horse a little closer to them. He needed... Needed to...

He eyed Ayla. For all he was well-known, few actually knew about this. She would think he was weird. More than she already did, anyways. And while he normally wouldn't care, he knew it would not help his reputation.

He should just go through the tunnel like a regular human being.

But he just... He just... Surely he could just...

He whimpered, eyes flicking between Ayla, the trees, and the tunnel.

His hermanas, his darling hermanas, liked to insist it was perfectly normal. He just believed a bit more strongly in superstition than most, that was all, according to them.

God, he loved them.

But he knew it wasn't normal. He knew that superstitions were only supposed to go so far. They were supposed to be a conscious, purposeful decision.

Not a... Compulsion.

He knew because he remembered how it was before he had them. Not well, but he remembered. And he remembered when they started.

The day the first Gifts were bestowed was a good one. The bad stuff mostly came later. There was a little bad in it, however. He remembered that clear as day.

He remembered his Mama being entirely distracted with the task of calming Pepa, who had already been grumpy because she'd managed to skip her nap and whose mood had not been helped by the little storm above her head. Julieta had wandered off to the kitchen while Mama was distracted, wanting to find out what the food on her special door meant.

Bruno wanted to follow Julieta.

Bruno wanted to help Mama.

Bruno wanted to cheer up Pepa.

Bruno did not get what he wanted.

Instead, fear had washed over him. He had to open the new door, or else something bad would happen. He wasn't sure what, but he had to all the same.

Then he had to enter the room. It had been slightly different back then, smaller, more suited to a toddler. He actually loved his room, and kept loving it for the most part.

But he didn't get much opportunity to admire it then. He had to make the sand just right. He didn't know why, just that something bad would happen if it wasn't exactly right.

It was hard work for a five year old, but he had help. Ratito scurried alongside him, just a pinkie back then, and did his best to help push the sand. It wasn't actually all that much help, he messed up the piles more than once, but Bruno appreciated it none the less. He didn't know what he would do without his favorite furry little friend.

And then came the fire. Bruno was not allowed to play with fire. He didn't want to disobey his Mama's rules. He didn't want to risk getting burned or burning Casita. But more than anything, he didn't want something bad to happen to his family. He loved his family. So he had to.

That first vision took him by surprise. Ratito had been so startled, he'd hidden in Bruno's shirt.

It was confusing.

Scary.

Different.

Exhilarating.

He still remembered the way his Mama rushed in, summoned not by the sound of swirling sands but by her son's cackling.

Bruno was not a boy to cackle.

But what else was one supposed to do when all of time and space had just opened up to them? When time was no longer just there, but a physical force moving along his skin? When possibilty and paradox were things he could see all around him?

It was too much, honestly. Luckily, the same instinct that had instructed his ritual told him what to do here. And he wasn't scared, because he was happy to follow it, so nothing bad was going to happen.

He focused on one thing. He could see his Mama standing in shock, Pepa hiding behind her (he didn't mean to scare her...). He wanted to know where Julieta was, so he made that his thing to focus on.

Julieta was... Lifting something? No, eating! No, that wasn't...

Baking! Julieta was baking!

Without Mama there to help her.

Oh, she was so grounded.

The sands swirled together and his first tablet formed. He still had it, in a drawer somewhere. Him and Pepa on either side of their hermana, all laughing with bits of frosting on their faces.

It came true minutes later, when Julieta had shown off a truly horrible-tasting cupcake and they'd eaten it anyways. A scrape Bruno had gotten from falling while moving the sand sealed itself, and they knew Julieta's Gift.

Yes, that was a good day.

It was also when the compulsions started.

He wasn't ashamed of his compulsions, though. Not really.

He could literally see the future. If anyone should listen to their brain telling them to do random, nonsensical stuff or else, it was him.

With that in mind, he went right over to the tree, hitting it five times and his own head once. "Knock, knock, knock-knock-knock, knock on wood!"

He held his breath, crossed his fingers (woah, it was hard to ride a horse without hands), and nodded at Ayla to lead the way. Staring at him, she did.

The tunnel wasn't too long, but Ayla moved a bit slowly. He gasped out the breath he'd been holding once they were on the other side, forcing himself to breathe normally rather than gulp in air.

"One down," Bruno joked, "one to go."

Ayla blinked. "What was that?"

Bruno shrugged.

Ayla sighed. "Right... Well, the other tunnel is a lot longer, so maybe don't hold your breath for that one?"

"Oh, don't worry," Bruno assured her, "I can go a while without breathing."

"Is that part of your magic?"

"No."

"Oh."

"Though my entire family is somewhat immune to lightning strikes."

"That's... interesting."

"Hmm."

They stared at each other for a moment.

"Well, let's go, then," Ayla said, sending her horse forward again.

"You got it, boss," Bruno saluted, his horse following hers.