A Marriage of Convenience: A Bruno Madrigal Encanto Fanfic

Chapter 19

When Claudia was a little girl her mother told her a story. It went like this. Ever since the beginning the world has had little pockets of magic, some of them just existed while others were born. There were people who worked with the magic to make potions and spells. Those people were thought to be blessed, those who actually had magic even more so. Magic was beloved by the entire world and they believed nothing could stop it. That was until the emergence of antimagic. 

Antimagic destroyed the beauty and grace of magic, so naturally people grew to hate it. The artifacts and creatures who produced it were eventually destroyed, but unfortunately another source was harder to destroy. Those who had the ability were referred to as Blanks. As soon as these people were discovered, they were considered a black spot on society. They were thought to destroy all goodness and bring only bad luck. The power they held was truly evil in the mind of society. Therefore, Blanks had been hunted and killed until very few remained. Those few hid away as much as they could, but it usually didn't work for long.

"You and I are Blanks dear, so is your father," her mother would smile at her,"and despite what the world thinks, we are not monsters. We are people just like them."

It was her father who taught her how to turn on and off her antimagic field. Her parents had been so supportive and when they had been murdered for their powers, Claudia had been devestated. The town hadn't cared for her after the incident, and she had been on the streets when the matron of the orphanage had passed through. The villagers had warned her of what Claudia was, but all the matron saw was a cold lonely child. So she had taken Claudia with her. 

The matron never treated her differently from the other kids until she was given to the Rojas with a contract. Andres had apparently been searching for a Blank for a while. She didn't know why at the time, but as she grew, she saw the jealousy the Rojas had for the Madrigals. She realized the Rojas had gotten her as a weapon and she swore to herself she would never let them use her as such. She had never used her power on purpose, until today.

*****

There was dead silence as the table stared at Claudia. Her eyes darted from face to face, specifically ignoring Andres smirk, until she landed on Alma's face. The older woman looked at Claudia like she was a monster. It made her feel sick and she kind of wanted to throw up. She quickly let down the field and everything went back to normal. The candle went back to being magical, Casita moved it's window confused, Pepa's cloud came back tinier, and Bruno went back into his vision. There was a moment of silence and then…

"You brought a Blank into our home!" Alma yelled at the Rojas. "Were you trying to destroy the Encanto? You know what she can do! She could ruin everything!"

"We needed a backup plan. Your children are dangerous. You know what they can do. We need to be protected," Andres argued back.

Pepa and Julieta just stood there stunned. They slowly looked at Claudia. They had never expected she had powers, but why was their mother so mad about it? They didn't understand. They were shocked at their mother's anger. She was usually so calm and put together, but now she was raging.

"Protected from my children? They needed protection from you and from that!" Alma gestured at Claudia.

At that Claudia rushed from the room. She couldn't stand to hear it. She should have known how this would go down. She was a freak. She knew what would happen and that she had to run.

"I don't want you anywhere near my children. Get out!" Alma pointed to the door after Claudia left, "You are not welcome here!"

Bruno snapped out of his vision only to see Claudia missing. His sisters gestured to the door and he quickly ran out.