𝒮𝑒𝑒 𝐹𝑜𝓇 𝒴𝑜𝓊𝓇𝓈𝑒𝓁𝒻 <<Bruno Madrigal>>>

Chapter 9

"Bruno! Wait up!" Carina catches up to him right as he stopped by the creek. He swiftly turns around, looking perturbed and alarmed at the sight of her.

"Go back, Carina. Don't mind me," he gasps, his eyes glowing green then quickly returns to normal, "J-Just leave me here."

"A friend doesn't abandon a friend," she smiles, reaching for his hand.

The woman had just confirmed that he's back on reality. Bruno turns away from her, guilt rushing to his mind upon the things he sees that will happen in the next few minutes. 'Is this why he said to wait for him to return?' he asks himself after pondering over the slight unintentional vision he just had.

"You don't need to concern yourself with me, Carina. I-I'm fine! Honest.." he smiles.

"Others may give up by that sentence, but I can see how much you're suffering right now. And I can't bring myself to leave you as it is." Carina stood in front of him and gently caresses his cheek, "It wasn't your fault. You know it isn't. By the way it looked to me, you're only trying to help. We both know that's the truth, right?"

'Slap her hand away, push yourself away, turn your back, Bruno,' but he can't do that, not when his tears already threatens to fall from her touch. He wanted so badly to hear these words, he wanted to experience what was in his vision, he wanted to know what it feels like personally, to hear it from her lips.

"Amigo, I will be back after a while. Until then, please don't ever let her wander off away from here," was Angelo's words before he left. According to him, his palm reading depicted a terrible scenario where her life will be in danger.

"I bring misfortune with my magic. I often have visions even though I don't want to. My family thinks that every word I tell is a prophecy."

"It won't matter what they say. How dare they when they don't even look you in the eye to compare the truth of their words? You are far from useless and you are far from being a bad luck to others. If they still can't see your worth, then I do," she wraps her arms around his torso, feeling his heart beat rapidly just as hers, "I'm always going to be here, as your friend, mejor amiga, or if you so choose.... as a novia."

Carina closes her eyes shut, feeling so stupid to bring that up now of all times. Her speech wasn't great either, and what's it got to do with consoling him? Her emotions got the best of her from trying to come up with anything that could ease his sadness. She glances up at him, seeing only inexpressive eyes. 'I've just jumped into a pit, didn't I,' the woman carefully detaches herself, ashamed to have been silently rejected.

"But it was Angelo who was in that vision..." he mumbles, "I thought you'd think of running away with him, to where the Madrigal's magic can't influence, a world he knows and could teach you. You wanted to see more than just Encanto."

Carina shakes her head, "No, I was thinking of that along with you. If Encanto is too much for you, then we could run away from here, where you'll won't have to worry about everyone thinking you're a bringer of bad prophecies. You'll just be Bruno Madrigal."

This is searching for an easy way out of all the mess they could meet. A selfish wish to live anew. Bruno couldn't be any happier for her thoughtfulness of his situation, but either options have great consequences, especially since fate hasn't been very good for him.

"Nope. Nope. Absolutely not," Julio jumps out from the bush after taking his moment to eavesdrop, "You do not go out there and disappear just like that."

"Julio, you followed me here?" seeing her younger brother disagree with her is one of the things she wanted to avoid in this discussion.

"I'm not totally blind. Like, I can literally see you both alone every merry fiesta of every occasion, I understand that. But please, por el amor del milagro, don't just decide to run away all of a sudden," Julio's cheeky attitude had its fun times, but he's completely serious right now. "Why not just confront your problems head on? It's not like you tried ever telling mamá that you want Bruno as your husband instead of all the other men she drags to you, though it was completely obvious from the start. She's just oblivious about it."

"Woah, now that's traditional strict parenting right there," this time, a new person walks into the scene, Angelo, a much more better looking version of himself than when he last met them. He now wore proper clothings, white shirt, linen pants and a sky blue ruana. And even a pair of little circular glasses to top it all off.

"Woah woah woah wait, why are you here?" Bruno steps up to shield them in case this person is just hiding from a good person facade. "You're not supposed to be here."

"Who is this?" asks Julio.

"Ah.... I didn't see him there..." Angelo stared at Julio like he's seen a ghost.

"Sorry, Angelo, but you're really not supposed to be here," says Carina. Feeling bad about having him on stand by on that lonely cliff is a little too late to express, but he really shouldn't see the magic of Encanto. Dangerous characteristics of human nature was taught to them at an early age, so letting outsiders in is strictly forbidden just as leaving this place, to protect the miracle.

"Well, I'm already here. And I was curious about the storm-like clouds so I had to see the other side to tell if it's a bad time to hike up the mountain and meet with you. It's fine. I already know there was a village here even if you didn't tell me," he laughs.

"But this place... I'm sure you'd notice that it's different from any others you've been to—"

"You mean mystical magics, right?"

Julio clenches his fists, ready for anything that might happen between them and the curious stranger. If anything, he should be getting help from the villagers this instant, but Carina has a good grip on his arm for two good reasons. His idea to call for help was one of them.

"Relax. I'm open minded about it. I do have a little magic of my own, you know," he waves his hand with a palm facing them. "If you still see me as a threat, then I accept it. But believe me when I say I have no ill intentions here, at all." Angelo swings his arms for a more dramatic effect, "I'm merely a palm reader, and my palm here says that I may be needed here, so I've arrived."

Bruno steps away, trying to process how this day escalated all of a sudden. "What are we even doing... I've just ruined my sister's wedding. This is going off on the wrong direction of the thing we should worry about."

Carina giggles, her hand rests on her hip, "What's important here is you're not beating yourself up right now. Are you still stressed over that matter?"

His eyes lingered at her carefree features, then tries to get a hold of his own mind. The more he wonders, the more he's forgotten why he was so down before. His face showed confusion from trying to make sense of his thoughts, along with the fact she just confessed to him, her brother catches them through it, Angelo returns and has seen Encanto and have probably seen strange occurrences centered by the church, and the wrath he'll be facing later with his family.

Overall, it just successfully made his mind blank. No more visions for him.