Bruno Madrigal x Reader: Para el Futuro

XXI: Collapse

You go home for the first time in a long time.  As much as being home without your mother hurts, staying inside Casita hurts more.  Everything that happens reminds you of Bruno, and it's juts so hard going to sleep every night with tears in your eyes despite thinking that they ran dry ages ago.  It's fine though because you're home now.  At this time in the afternoon, the sun is positioned so that  it just barely shines though the windows, but it's just enough that everything glows.  The slight glaze of dust that covers everything reflects back the sunlight like a bunch of stars except albeit more sneeze-promoting.  You sneeze.  Dust goes flying.  It seems so strange to be back after so long.  You look outside, and your mother's garden is surprisingly clean and well-tended.  Must be the work of the townsfolk.  You see the barn in the corner, and it has 100% seen better days.  The paint is peeling and the bright red is now more of a dried blood color.  As you walk towards the barn to check up on the animals, you remember the time when you rejected Bruno and ran away from him.  Why couldn't you have just told him the truth?  Why did you have to be such a drama queen, jeez.  You open the barn doors with a bit of a squeak, and the little critters on the floor skitter away.  The first one to notice you is the little barn cat that hated everyone.  He leaps into your arms and begins licking your face.

"Aww thanks.  Ya know, you never got a name because you always hated me, haha.  How does....Milo sound?"  The cat meows and pushes itself deeper under your chin.  For a good 10 minutes, you just sit and hold Milo, slowly combing through his fur.  You take a deep sigh and get up.  You walk over to Sylvester and pet his mane.

"How are you, old boy?  You look like you've been fed and taken care of.  So sorry that I...I couldn't come and do it myself."  You start getting a bit teary-eyed.  You give him a pat and start walking back out the barn.  Milo follows you which is strange because he NEVER leaves the barn.  Weird.  Also, weird... were these plants here on the way to the barn?

All around you are freshly grown plants of blue and purple and green with spikes and vines and bright blooming flowers.  The entire yard is covered in them, and it's almost hard to get back home.  You get about half-way before hearing a meow.  You turn around and Milo is stuck behind something that looks like an aloe plant.  You smile and pick him up and keep walking.  You close the door behind you and put Milo down gently.  You decide to visit your room.  A short trip down the hall and up some stairs.  You open the door and it's as if you never left.  Frankly, it's not that big of a shock because your room in Casita looked practically the same especially after you hid the you-know-what in the closet so you'd never have to feel the pain of seeing it again.  Lying down on the bed, you think about everything you ever did in this house.

"Oh, Mamá.  I'm so tired.  Of everything.  The world has no color.  I love my godchildren and Julieta and Pepa and their spouses and even Tía Alma.  But  everything is gray.  And when it gets even a small drop of color, it all turns dark in a mere few seconds as I remember him again.  What do I do?"

Crash.  The house shakes, and some picture frames fall. Something falls over downstairs so you run to check on it.  Milo sits next to a knocked-over small side table next to your mother's chair.  You pick up all of the newspapers that she loved to read and slowly take a seat and start reading one that caught your eye.  It's from 15 years ago.  It's the story of a local farm which isn't all that interesting, but something about it just calls to you.  After reading a few paragraphs, something hits you: a feeling of de ja vu.  Have you done this before? No you couldn't have cuz you haven't been here for ages.  But sitting in your mother's chair, reading a newspaper, something seems so strongly familiar.  And even when your mother was alive, you never ever sat in her chair.  So this has to be the first time...right?  You slowly get back to reading.  It really is an interesting article once you get deep into it.  It's about...

BAM!!!!

Your back door goes flying into the house, and the sun shines in, partially blinding you.  Dust and splinters of wood fly through the air, luckily missing you.  You're so stunned that you don't move, but you hear... a neigh?  And in clip-clops Sylvester with someone riding on his back.  He slides down.  He steps closer to you.  He stares into your eyes.

"Oh mí amor..."
He grabs your cheek and kisses you.  Deeply, passionately.  Trying to make up for 10 years of no contact.  10 years of not being here.  10 long, miserable years without him. Without Bruno.  He's....he's back.
He doesn't want to let go, but your lips slowly part from each other, and he gazes into your eyes.  His messy, unkempt curls fall into his face and brush against yours.  His heavy breath heats up your already burning face.  His ruana falls and rests on your chest.  You would be sure that you were dead except for the fact that the heavenly light that envelops you both shines next to a horse and the door is flat on your floor.  He slowly backs away, leaving the space where his hand was last, cold.
"Um... I'm borrowing Sylvester."

What...?

He hops on the horse and gallops away.

WHAT..??

You sit stunned in your chair, not able to move and barely able to breathe.

WHAT JUST HAPPENED.

You leap out of the chair and run out of the door frame into the back yard.  The strange plants are all gone, but cracks cover the ground and Bruno is nowhere to be seen.  You dash around the house and start bounding up the hill to get to town, Milo at your heels.  Cracks everywhere.  You reach the edge of town and houses are cracked, broken.  Roads are covered in potholes and deep wells of darkness.  The mountains around the Encanto are cracked in half and rocks fall down them.  And in the distance you see Casita.  Or rather... you don't see Casita.  What is left is a gray cloud of dust and a pile of rubble.  Man. You leave for a few hours and what happens?  The town is shattered, Casita is all but pebbles, and Bruno shows up.  Good lord.

You run as fast as you can to the edge of the house and hear Louisa yelling for Mirabel.

"Louisa! What happened!?"
"Tía! Abuela and Mirabel got into a fight over how overprotective and strict Abuela was being and the candle went out and the house collapsed and..."
"Wait, the candle went out?"
"Yeah and now Mirabel is missing and Mom and Dad are freaking out! No one can find her!"

Mirabel? Missing? Oh no.