The Madrigal Fox

Keep It To Yourself!

"Tía Pepa, if he had a vision about someone, what would that mean for them?"

"We don't talk about Bruno." The older woman replied quickly.

"I know. It’s just hypothetically, if he saw you…" Mirabel pressed.

"Mirabel, please, we need to get ready for the Guzmáns."

"I just wanna know if it was generally positive or, like, less positive…" She seemed nervous.

"It was a nightmare!" Félix exclaimed loudly, no one knew that the fox boy was sitting on the roof listening to everything they were saying.

Pepa immediately scolded her husband who brushed it off and continued to talk to Mirabel, telling her that if Bruno had a vision then you needed to figure it out fast.

Oliver listened silently as tears gathered in his eyes as his aunt and uncle spoke of their wedding day. Félix loved their wedding, rain or shine, but Pepa seemed to resent it a bit. It wasn't perfect and she had blamed her brother for it when all he tried to do was warn her that her strong emotions were going to cause it to storm.

His father wasn't bad, Oliver knew this. He didn't make the future nor could he change it, all he could do is see it, yet people still blamed him for it. They didn't like what they saw and instead of being reasonable they blamed him for a future he couldn't control.

He watches Dolores as she pulls their younger cousin closer to her, his ears parking up slightly as she speaks.

"She can always hear him...?" Oliver trailed off, making eye contact with his cousin who had passed Mirabel off to Camilo who spoke more lies of the eldest male of the family.

"He didn't leave?" Dolores sent him a small sad smile as she watched the tears fall from the male's eyes.

Oliver was aware that his father didn't go far, every year on his birthday he would receive a gift, usually small but Oliver didn't care. However, he never would have thought that his father still lived in the house. Now it was just a matter of finding him.

"He told me that the life of my dreams would be promised and someday be mine." To others, Isabela sounded happy but the fox could hear what seemed to be a mix of sadness and mild anger in her tone, it was as if she believed she had been lied to.

"Oye Mariano’s on his way!" Alma called, which caused Oliver to jump up and rush to look over, ignoring his blurred vision whilst also trying to listen to his family.

He didn't understand why they spoke so poorly of Bruno. He hadn't done anything wrong.

Oliver looked back and forth between where his grandmother was walking and Mirabel was standing. His cousin wanted answers and with mild uncertainty he jumped down and snatched the girl up, her yelp going unnoticed by most of the ignorant family who continued to speak poorly of the man that wasn't even around to defend himself.

"My father isn't a bad person, you know..." He muttered, pulling her towards the nursery. "He was a good father and raised me on his own."

Once inside he took the girl's bag and dumped the vision pieces on the table, slowly putting them together as the younger of the two stood behind him listening silently. She wouldn't comment on the tears that fell from his eyes every now and then, he had seen her cry and didn't judge her so she would return the favour.

"People get upset when they aren't told what they want to hear. Papa wouldn't lie to them and they started to hate him, my existence didn't help since they believed I was cursed..." He paused before sighing. "Papa never did anything without a reason, he's not cruel like that. You know he used to read us bedtime stories when we were young, it was a long time ago but I still remember my favourite story."

"The one with the boy and the girl? The one where the boy and the baby go to live in the mountains?" Mirabel asks. It was Oliver's favourite story to tell, though she truly couldn't understand why.

The fox boy hummed, his tail swaying slightly at the mention of the story. It truly was his favourite.

"He protected us, made sure nothing bad would come for us and how was he repaid?" Oliver practically snarled, his nails digging into the wood as he stopped putting the vision together for a moment. "They outcasted him and blamed him for every bad thing. He couldn't open his mouth without someone assuming something was going to happen." He placed the last piece and observed the vision, taking note of how it changed depending on how you looked at it.

"An imperfect vision..." He mused quietly before taking a step back, allowing Mirabel to look at it.

"Am I the reason why the magic is fading?" She turned to look at her cousin and at that moment they were children again. It was the exact same feeling he had after her door ceremony.

He didn't know what to do but settled for shaking his head no. The vision wasn't set in stone, there was more than one ending.

"Miraboo! Got your party pants on? ‘Cause I…" Agustín trailed off, his jaw dropping at the sight of the vision behind his daughter. He glanced at his nephew briefly, not wanting to focus on the male too much.

Mirabel quickly began to ramble about how she had gone into Bruno's tower and how the magic was fading and how she believed it was her fault.

"We will say nothing. Abuela wants tonight to be perfect." He quickly started stuffing the pieces in his pockets. "The magic isn't fading, the house is fine. Everything is fine. No one else will know, we just have to act normal. No one has to know."

And as if Casita was mocking them, the door swung open slowly to show Dolores standing across from them with wide eyes.

"I know..." She squeaked out before rushing off. Leaving Agustín and Mirabel panicking.

"Time to eat!" Alma's voice carried out around the house and Oliver was quick to try and head to his room. He didn't participate in family meals, it was something he had started avoiding years ago.

Before he could get far, Mirabel grabbed his wrist. He turned to look at her, his eyes darting between hers.

"Please come eat with us." Mirabel's grip tightened slightly, seemingly desperate for the male to go with her.

Agustín looked at the boy with sad eyes. He never had anything against the distant boy, yet he never tried to interact with him as though he was family either. No one ever bothered to ask the male to come to eat with them after he stopped.

"Mira, I can't."

"Please Ollie. I need you." He stared at the girl a moment longer before nodding slowly.

Casita was happy about this, making sure there was another chair at the end of the table for the boy.

The family was shocked to see Oliver trailing behind Mirabel with Agustín following after. He was hunched over, hiding behind the younger girl. His tail fell and curled in-between his legs and his ears were pressed tightly against his head. He wouldn't make eye contact with any of them and was quick to take his seat, the plate in front of him very fascinating.

"He really does look like his mother..." Pepa spoke sadly to her sister before the two split off to go to their own seats.

"Oliver, I'm surprised you joined us. You stopped not long after your father left." Alma spoke to her son's only child, it was hard to tell if she was actually happy to see the boy or not.

"Yes well, I didn't appreciate the comments about him and still don't so do me a favour and keep your opinions about him to yourselves." He snapped at her, glaring directly at the woman before looking back at his currently empty plate.

It was silent for a moment before everyone went back to how they would normally have their meals, the Guzmán's seemingly enjoying their time in the home. They all pretended the fox boy wasn't there for the most part, sending him a glance from time to time.

It was going to be an awkward and tense meal and that wasn't just for Oliver.