When a Butterfly Flaps its Wings | Encanto Fanfic

Bruno

Bruno sat at the edge of the stairs, absently swinging his legs in the air as he waited for Mirabel to catch up. He could hear her muttering curses and complaints under her breath as she struggled up the stairs.

This was always his favourite part of giving visions- watching people suffer through the excessive amount of stairs required to get to the vision cave. If he was lucky, they would give up before he could give them a vision.

Mirabel collapsed into an exhausted lump beside him, breathing heavily. "Bruno, your room is the worst!"

Bruno snorted and gave Mirabel a sympathetic back pat. He shot her a slightly malicious grin. "Hey, cheer up. You're halfway there!"

Mirabel's face contorted in despair as she looked up to the remaining stairs. She covered her face and gave a frustrated wail. "Why are there so many stairs? Why isn't there a faster way up? This is a magic house!"

Bruno looked down at the floor, already so far away, and shrugged. He bit his lip, hesitating briefly before saying, "We don't need to keep going. We can go back."

"No way!" Mirabel said determinedly. "I'm not giving up. I need that vision."

Her determination would have been impressive if it wasn't so disheartening. It was fine. It had been a long shot anyway. Mirabel seemed to be rather stubborn. He shouldn't have hoped for a different answer in the first place.

He kept his face carefully blank as he nodded. He silently offered her his hand. She accepted with a smile, and he pulled her up. Without saying a word, he started climbing the stairs again. He ignored the lump in his throat.

He could hear Mirabel trying to keep up with his pace.

"How are you not tired?" She whined, having already lagged behind.

Bruno paused, looking back to his huffing niece. "I guess - I guess I'm just used to it. I have to go up these stairs pretty much every day."

Mirabel looked horrified, glancing back at the number of stairs the two of them had already passed. "What, why? That's terrible."

Bruno shrugged. "Well, I have to. My bedroom is up there... and well the vision cave."

"Why are they so far away?"

Bruno looked away, saying nothing. His tower had been growing taller every day.

It was fine. He was fine.

Ten silent minutes later, they finally made it to the top of the tower. Bruno froze at the sight before him. Where there had once been a bridge passing over a sand river, was now a gaping chasm.

Mirabel, having just pulled herself up the last step, groaned. "Are you kidding me? Come on!"

"That was definitely not there before..." Bruno muttered. Curiously he kicked a stone into the abyss. He and Mirabel shared a horrified look as the rock hit the ground what seemed like an eternity later. "That is... really deep. Wow."

"This can't be it. There has to be another way across!"

Bruno shook his head, looking down at the deep ravine. If he was honest with himself, he could only feel relief. "The bridge was the only way across. I'm sorry, Mirabel, but without my vision cave, I can't-"

He paused as he turned around to see Mirabel ripping the rope railing out of the ground. "Mirabel? What are you doing?"

Mirabel shot him a mischievous grin. She swung the end of the rope in a small circle then tossed it. It flew towards some jagged stones up in the ceiling, getting caught in between them. She tugged the rope a couple times before giving a satisfied nod.