Chapter Text
Bruno jolted awake as the rumbling began. It took him a while to get his bearings but quickly he came to realize that the rumbling and quaking was Casita. He had chosen to place his hopes on his beloved sobrina to save the miracle, but he should’ve known it was inevitable. He shouldn’t have placed that pressure on Mirabel.
“Knock knock knock knock knock on wood,” Bruno quickly completed his ritual with a light tap to his head before moving. He had to escape. He had to make sure his family was safe.
“Vamos, ratas,” Bruno ushered the rats who had yet to escape out of the room. “Get to safety. I’ll join you soon.” He rushed down the collapsing hallway toward the courtyard, just in time to see Mirabel reaching for the candle, with her family calling out to her.
“She wont be able to get away in time,” Bruno looks up at his tower. It looked ready to follow the rest of Casita to the ground. Bruno felt his gift flare up and his eyes glowed, but started to dim.
“My gift…It’s fading…”
The tower started to crumble as Mirabel reached the candle.
“No! Mirabel,” Bruno yelled. He started running toward Mirabel, who had fallen to the ground and braced herself for impact with the towers falling debris. “Please, Casita! The candle! The Miracle! Whoever is listening! Give me the rest of your power, whatever is left! Enough to save my Mirabel!”
He reached Mirabel and threw his body over hers, unable to think of anything else to save her.
“Tio! No!” Mirabel shouted, fearful for the safety of her family above herself, even a crazy Tio that lived in the walls for ten years that she barely knew.
Just then, the dim glow in Bruno’s eyes erupted in a vivid green. The Miracle had transferred the last of it’s power to Bruno. And in that dying breath Bruno experienced power he had never experienced before. A typhoon of sand from his tower was summoned, surrounding Mirabel and himself, encasing them in a glowing green dome of sand moving at incredible speed, and protecting them from the falling Casita. But the great power he had in that instant also showed Bruno countless visions from the near, far, and exponentially distant future. In those few seconds he was shown, war, life, death, and suffering cycle through countless times until he reached a point where the earth itself had reached its end. His mind couldn’t hold together with such colossal amount of information being processed in what amounted to an instant and he was fractured. A shadow of the man he used to be and would never be again.
Before the dust could even settle, Julieta ran toward the ruins of what was once the Madrigal home.
“Mirabel,” She shouted, frantic. She was terrified out of her mind at what could have happened to her daughter. The last thing she remembered was watching the tower collapse while casita refused to let her go to her daughter. Then there was a blinding green flash, and quiet. “Mirabel, please be ok… Mirabel!”
“Mami!” Julieta turned toward the muffled plea and saw a large pile of debris, with green light seeping from the gaps. “Mirabel! We’ll get you out of here. Agustin!” She shouted behind her.
“Please hurry, somethings wrong,” Mirabel yelled from inside. Julieta’s panic grew.
“Are you hurt? Is anything broken or bleeding?”
“No, I’m ok, but somethings wrong with Tio Bruno.” Julieta froze, her thought process interrupted.
“What do you mean, mija?” Julieta asked slowly. Agustin ran up and dropped to his knees with Felix and the rest of the family in tow.
“Mirabel! Are you ok in there? We’ll get you out fast as we can, don’t worry!” Agustin shouted, a little too loudly. Agustin pulled Julieta aside as she tried to process what was going on, as the rest of the family got to work carefully removing the debris. Julieta also joined as soon as she calmed herself down.
Inside the emerald cocoon, Mirabel grasped the unlit candle, uttering a silent prayer before turning back to her unresponsive Tio. Although the candle had gone out and Casita had fallen, Bruno’s eyes still glowed. However, she didn’t like how detached he looked. Unaware. Dead. The worry increased and she checked Bruno for a pulse, and let out a sigh of relief when she found it.
“Tio, please answer me. Come back to me! You saved me, you did it. Please,” Mirabels voice wavered as she spoke. “I don’t like this…Come back.” Almost as if summoned, blood came pouring from Bruno’s eyes, causing Mirabel to scream.
The rest of the village came up to help and the stone tomb encasing Bruno and Mirabel was shrinking, until finally enough debris was removed for the green light to shine through, eliciting gasps.
“Please hurry!” Mirabel muffled sobs seeped through. “He’s bleeding and he can’t hear me!”
Julieta sped up, no longer worrying about causing the debris to collapse as the green light could only mean Bruno had kept up a protective barrier. But the rest of their gifts were gone, how could Bruno have kept his going even up til now?
As the sand dome became clear, the sight elicited a shocked murmuring among the townspeople. Bruno Madrigal was back.
“It’s the devil! He’s back!” Someone shouted. “This was all his fault!” That startled Pepa out of her stupor, and she yelled back at the crowd.
“Who said that,” Pepa shouted, but no one responded. “Cowards! My Brother saved my sobrina! How dare you!”
She turned back to her brother, his eyes were glowing, but trails of blood seeped out like tears. He looked emaciated and tired, and didn’t look like he was conscious of his surroundings. Mirabel was calling out to him and gently shaking his shoulders but he wasn’t responding. All of a sudden, the emerald dome cracked and crumbled, releasing Mirabel and Bruno from its protection when it was safe to do so. Bruno’s eyes dimmed and the ghostly green light receded until Mirabel was left looking at her uncle’s lifeless eyes. Julieta and Agustin rushed in and hugged Mirabel.
“Are you hurt, Mirabel?” Julieta questioned giving her a look over. Mirabel shook her head, dejectedly.
“He saved me, Mami,” She was on the verge of tears. “It’s my fault that-”
“None of that,” Julieta cut her off. “It’s not your fault and he wouldn’t want you blaming yourself over any of this, alright? Now, I’m going to examine him and we’ll all work together to make sure he’ll be fine.” She kissed Mirabel on the forehead and called Isabela over to have her escort Mirabel away from the scene.
“No, I don’t want to leave him, Mami. Please let me…” Mirabel cried out but was stopped by her father.
“Mirabel, you need to be looked over properly, but your mom needs to focus on Bruno first. She needs to know you’ll be taken care of to do her job properly, ok? Please don’t fight us on this,” Agustin placed a hand on Mirabel’s shoulder and softly, yet with a hint of sternness foreign to him, commanded Mirabel. He turned to Isabela.
“Get her to the clinic and stay with her. The doctor will give her a proper checkup.” Isabela agreed and lead Mirabel away with an arm around her shoulders.
Julieta gave Agustin a sad, yet grateful smile before turning back to her brother.
Pepa approached.
“Is he…”
“He’s alive.” Julieta responded quickly, checking his head for any damage. “He’s breathing, and it doesn’t look like he has any physical injuries. At the very least no head trauma.” Pepa nodded.
“I’ll take the kids away from here. I’ll drop them off at Felix’s parents and come back. I want to be with him but I don’t want them to see their Tio like this. Especially Tonito.”
“Yes, that would be best. I’ll see what I can do here. Agustin, can you search around where the kitchen used to be in case any medicine or food survived? Bruno’s gift lasted past Casitas collapse, maybe mine did too.” She stated
“Mi amor,” Agustin called to her. “We should get him away from here. Take him to the clinic. You and the doctor can examine him there.” Julieta looked up, about to protest. “I don’t like leaving him out in the open in view of the villagers. Most of them are fine, wouldn’t hurt a fly, but you know what they’ve thought of him all their lives. I’m worried he might not be safe.”
Pepa was horrified at the implication and glared out at the crowd. “Anyone tries anything, and they’ll wish I could just strike them with lightning.”
“Luisa,” Julieta called her daughter over. The girl approached, on the verge of tears herself, and knelt down next to her mother while looking at Bruno. “Can you carry your Tio to the clinic. I’ll come with you.”
“Is he…is he gonna be ok?” She asks meekly.
“He’ll be fine, mi vida,” Julieta smiled and wiped a tear from the corner of her eye. “He’ll be telling you bedtime stories before you know it, and he won’t even care that you might have aged out of it.” She chuckled lightly. Luisa smiled.
“I wouldn’t mind.”
From a distance, Abuela watched on in horror. "Bruno..."