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thetavolution · 20 days ago

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They Fell From the Sky

Chapter 1

Bruno x OC

a/n : You can also read it on AO3.

Plot: A plane crash brings a group of strangers to the Encanto, bringing new dangers to the village.

Chapter 2

Bruno stared down at the green vision slab in his hands, his face scrunched up in confusion. There was growth from destruction. In spite of a roaring fire, the casita continued to expand, as if the family were continuing to grow. It was as confusing as the vision he once had about Mirabel.

“This doesn’t make sense,” Mirabel said. “Why does it mean?”

“I don’t know, kid,” Bruno admitted.

They were in Bruno’s new, much more welcoming bedroom. It was no longer a distance cave filled with sand. There was still sand present so that Bruno could use it in his ritual. Although Bruno didn’t really need to do it for his gift to work, it was soothing. Being able to look into the future was enough to fray the nerves and Bruno turned to ritual for comfort.

The room was decorated in greens, Bruno’s signature color. Off to the side of the room, was a warm bed to sleep in. Mirabel had given him embroidered sheets as a welcome home gift. He cherished them.

“What if this means we do start letting people come to the village?” Mirabel was desperate to make sense of this. “Maybe Abuela changes her mind?”

“Abuela wouldn’t change her mind,” Bruno said, not taking his eyes off the slab. This meant something else and it couldn’t be anything good.

“It could be something good.” It was as if Mirabel knew his exact fears, yet she didn’t sound confident. “Maybe there’s a fire that… brings us together? Or maybe taking care of the survivors after a fiery crash helps our family grow? It could be metaphorical growth.”

“We need to tread carefully,” Bruno warned. “Our job is to protect our family and our home, first and foremost. The people of the Encanto count on us.”

“Of course,” she agreed. Being optimistic didn’t mean they had to let their guard down.

“We could go to the camp,” Mirabel suggested. “Get a good look at what we’re dealing with. We haven’t had a chance to meet anyone except Guillermo and Señorita McQuoid.”

Bruno shook his head. “It wouldn’t be safe.”

“I’ll be safe if you’re with me, Tío!” Mirabel gently tugged on his arm. “And I’m sure Mamá and Papi will be there, too.”

Bruno wet his lips as he debated his answer, a habit born of anxiety. She wasn’t wrong. His brother-in-law and Julieta would both be there. Luisa and Isabela had already started joining them in working with the survivors. It wouldn’t be that dangerous for Mirabel to be there now.

He slowly nodded, resulting in Mirabel nearly tackling him with a hug. Mirabel didn’t bother to mask her glee, especially since it was never a secret that she wanted to know more about the newcomers. Even if they found nothing that clarified the vision, Mirabel would have the chance to see the survivors for herself.

“This will be a good thing!” Mirabel took him by the hand to guide him out of his room, leading him to the front door. “Whatever we find out will help us protect our family.”

She didn’t even notice as he held his breath going through the front door, something he still did to try to invite good luck into his life. He really couldn’t enter doorways or passages without that simple gesture. He’d also quickly crossed his fingers, knowing they would need the extra luck with them.

He allowed his niece to guide him through the village roads. She reminded him of his sisters when they were younger. He was always the nervous child, pulled along into their antics, especially Pepa’s. Pepa never wanted her children to know she was a bit of a wild child back in her day. Bruno was often her uneasy sidekick and Julieta would bail them out of any trouble they got into, and often helped them hide it from Mamá.

When they reached the edge of the camp, neither Bruno nor Mirabel were surprised to see a certain trio of faces trying to spy on the strangers. Cecilia, Alejandra, and Juancho giggled as they looked through trees and foliage to get a good look at the strangers. The were whispering to each other, but Bruno couldn’t make out a word of it.

Mirabel placed her hands on her hips with a smirk. Bruno stood back a few feet to let his niece deal with the children. They knew her far better than they did him. He was probably just some creepy old man to them.

When Mirabel cleared her throat, the children gasped in unison. They turned to look at the two Madrigals. Once they realized it was Mirabel, their panic lessened.

“We just wanted to see!” Juancho exclaimed.

“I’m sure you did,” she said, amused by their antics. “But there’s a reason the grown ups don’t want you over here. Go on.”

She watched as the children scurried off. She looked back at her uncle. “I would have done the same thing if I was there age.”

“You’re doing the same thing at your current age,” Bruno teased.

“This is different!”

“Is it?”

“It is!” Mirabel insisted. “I’m not sneaking around the camp, for starters. I’m walking right on in!”

At that, she did start to walk right into the camp.

It was made up of bright makeshift tents cobbled together by the villagers. They weren’t anything fancy, simply bright fabrics sewn together over wood poles. The doors were flaps that could be tied together with strings, but many of them were left hanging open. It was likely people didn’t want to be bother tying and retying the entrances throughout the day. On the edges of the camp was a fire pit to cook over. Not too far from the fire pit was a stack of organized luggage. It must have been whatever they could salvage from the plane.

It wasn’t as grim as Bruno had expected, but he knew his family was to thank for that. They had not only treated the wounded, they had made sure the camp had a loving touch. It was a place for people to try to recover, mentally and spiritually. There would be no drab colors or untidy workspaces. Supplies were organized and nearly set aside into the appropriate piles.

They immediately spotted a familiar face beside the fire pit. Bex was dousing a fire and properly covering it up. She noticed them almost the moment they passed the treeline.

“Well, hello there,” Bex greeted. She was adorned in contrast stitch jeans and red shirt. It wasn’t that common to see women in pants around the Encanto, although it wasn’t a first either.

She wasn’t alone. Next to her was a young girl in a check shirt and rolled cuffed jeans. Her strawberry blonde hair styled into soft curls, which contrasted Bex’s loose and wavy dark brown hair.

“Señorita McQuoid,” Mirabel greeted. “It’s good to see you again.”

“Same to you,” Bex said. “Mirabel and Bruno, right?”

Bruno was surprised. He hadn’t expected her to remember his name. He had barely said a word the entire night Bex was at his home. “You remember me?”

“Of course,” Bex said. “You’re very memorable.”

Memorable. That meant weird, didn’t it? With his bizarre mannerisms and rituals, she’d sure noticed him alright. She noticed he was deranged.

Stop. Stop, he told the thoughts. It was easy to fall back into self-hate. He took a deep breath to center himself, just like Luisa had once shown him.

“This is Irena,” Bex motioned to the girl next to her. “Irena Gruber.”

That gave Bruno and Mirabel pause. They recalled Gruber mentioning a daughter at dinner the other night. More accurately, he’d referenced she would “pop out” a kid eventually. Bruno hadn’t really known what to expect when it came to Gruber’s daughter. Irena was definitely not what he would have thought of if asked.

She was petite, as if she could be swept off her feet by a great wind. Her nervous, wide-eyed stare made Bruno think of a scared deer, ready to run at the slightest provocation. Irena glanced to Bex, for some kind of moral support, before waving to them.

“Hi, it’s so nice to meet you,” Mirabel reached out a hand to Irena.

Mirabel’s energetic greeting jolted Irena. After a second, she collected herself and managed a weak smile.

“It’s nice to meet you, too.” Irena shook Mirabel’s hand. She then held out her hand to Bruno. “You, too, señor.”

“Hi.” Bruno matched her nervous energy with his own. He quickly shook her hand. Should he say ‘Same?’ Or ‘The pleasure’s all mine?’ No, that’s awkward, right? Should he say something else? How were you meant to greet a complete stranger, especially one from a completely different country?

He took too long to decide, losing his chance to not be a socially awkward mess.

“There something I can help you with?” Bex wondered. “You looking for your family?”

“Not exactly,” Mirabel said. “We came to help and get to know everyone.”

“Ah,” Bex nodded. “We appreciate that. Although you might not have a great time meeting everyone right now. People are still trying to recover from….”

Bex gestured at everything.

“Of course,” Mirabel said, quickly. “We can’t even begin to imagine what you’ve been through. We don’t want to be insensitive.”

“You’re fine,” Bex said. “At least, you’re fine with me. I’m just the hired help who came along on a trip. I can’t pretend to be as affected as everyone else who actually lost something. Come on, I can show you around. Irena, you wanna come?”

Irena froze, startled by the question.

Irena’s silent panic was enough of an answer for Bex. “Don’t worry, kid, you stay here.” She was so casual in her response it was almost comforting. She turned back to Bruno and Mirabel. “We can head up this way.”

She pointed to a pathway that led to the center of the camp. Mirabel quickly made her way to the front of the pack, so to speak. Bruno and Bex trailed behind her.

Bruno already hated it. He was walking in step with Bex. Should he talk to her? Are you allowed to just walk in silence with a stranger? It was possible Bex was judging him for being quiet. Maybe she was judging him for letting his niece take control of the conversation. But Mirabel was so much better with people than he was.

“You see the future, right?” Bex’s question pulled him from his thoughts.

“Uh, yeah, I do.” Bruno could already feel his anxiety climbing even higher. She’d ask him to look into her future and she’d hate what he’d see. People in the Encanto no longer blamed him for his prophecies, but they still didn’t always react well to bad news. And she was an outsider! What if she did blame him? No matter how many familial pep talks he got, it still felt so heavy when someone blamed him for things going wrong.

“Can I ask how you get your visions?” Bex continued. “Do they just come to you or…?”

“No, no, I have to concentrate to do it,” Bruno clarified. “They don’t just come to me. People come to me and ask for me to look into their future for them. …And they don’t always like what I see.”

“Sounds stressful.”

He felt a wave of relief with just that small acknowledgement. “It is,” he admitted. “But I like being able to help.”

He noticed a small smile on her face. She motioned to Mirabel with a nod of her head. “What about the kid? What’s her gift?”

“She is the gift,” Bruno responded without missing a beat. “She’s the glue that holds us together. She doesn’t have an ability the way we do, but she doesn’t need one.”

Bex chuckled, softly. “You are an insanely adorable family.”

While it was near impossible for Bruno to accept a compliment about himself, he was proud of his family. People could compliment them all day and he’d lap it up.

“Thank you,” he averted his eyes, still nervous. He had no idea how to buffer his next question, so he just blurted it out. “Why didn’t you ask me to read your future?”

Everyone else always asked that immediately. Why didn’t she? Was something wrong? Did she hate him? She hated him. She didn’t want to have to talk to him. It’s what made the most sense.

“Because I don’t like chasing after trouble,” Bex replied with a playful lilt. “My future will find me soon enough. I’d like to be disappointed in real time.”

“You think you’d get a bad fortune.” Of course she did. That’s what everyone dreaded.

Bex realized she’d hit a sore spot for Bruno, based on his reaction alone. “Hey, it’s not personal,” she said. “I’m sorry, I make too many bad jokes.”

Bruno nodded, not feeling fully convinced.

“I also figured you’d be tired of people asking you. I assumed you get it non-stop.”

“I do,” Bruno admitted. He wasn’t sure if he actually did want her to ask or not. Did he? He did get tired of it being why people approached him, yet he felt so empty when she didn’t. Was there a way for Bex to win this interaction?

“How about this? When you feel up to it, you can read my future?” Bex suggested. “I’ll put on a brave face for you and everything. I’ll leave the ball in your court.”

The compromise was enough to calm his conflicted thoughts. “Deal.” Bruno let a moment of silence pass between them before he tried to kickstart the conversation again. “How do you know Señor Gruber?”

“He hired me to cook for him,” Bex answered. “Although I’m nowhere near as good as Julieta on that front.”

“I wouldn’t mind trying some of your cooking sometime.” Bruno wasn’t used to having such casual conversations with people he wasn’t related to. People were much kinder to him now, but they still regarded him as different. There were a few occasions he felt condescended to. Like he was some kind of crackpot that had to be treated with kid gloves.

Bex chuckled. “Stick around here and you’ll get to eventually. Just don’t complain to me when it’s not as good as what you’re used to.”

Bruno’s retort was cut short when he noticed Mirabel had stopped in her tracks. He followed her gaze to see Luisa. She was several feet away with one of the other survivors, deep in conversation with him. Whatever they were talking about, they were both passionate about the topic.

He was much shorter than Luisa, which was no surprise. She towered over most people. He took a break from gesturing wildly with his arms to adjust his wide framed glasses. His skin was a hue or two darker than Luisa’s and his black hair was cut short.

“Looks like Luisa made a friend,” Mirabel commented.

Bruno smiled. Seeing the kids connect with new people was a sight for sore eyes, especially Luisa. She had always struggled to relax that she never really let herself spend time with friends. Bruno wasn’t even really sure she was particularly close with most people her age in the village.

“That’s Nasr,” Bex chimed in. “He’s a good kid, studies mineralogy. You ask him anything about rocks and he lights up like a Christmas tree.”

“Rocks?” Mirabel chuckled.

Bex nodded. “Came all the way from Palestine to study them. Although I don’t think coming to America was his choice.”

“What do you mean?”

“I’ll tell you later,” Bex said. “Let’s keep going. We don’t want to interrupt them.”

The trio continued on, although Bruno watched Luisa a moment longer. Once Mirabel told Isabela about this, Bruno was confident the two sisters would grill Luisa about her conversation. They’d know everything about Nasr from his birthday to his shoe size. The women in his family were good at that. Once a new friend or romantic interest came into the fold, they had to know everything. It was a way to make sure you were protecting your family. They were also just nosy.

He’d be lying if he said he didn’t want to know. Mirabel would keep him in the loop.

They made it to the center of the camp, which was encircled by tents. It seemed pretty bare aside from a stack of rations.

“We’re prepping for when we hit the road,” Bex explained. She smacked the top of the rations piles. “This should be enough to get us all into the next town.”

“And then what?” Mirabel asked.

“We figure out how to get home,” she said. “I’m sure our plane’s been reported missing by now. We probably just have to radio a nearby airport or… something.”

“Should we be worried you’ll tell everyone about the Encanto?” Bruno asked.

Bex hesitated, which caused Bruno’s concerns to spike. “Guillermo and I are working to make sure nobody finds out about the Encanto after we return. Everyone will come around. I know how to get Gruber to not be a complete bastard.”

Mirabel and Bruno exchanged a look that said it all: that wasn’t good enough. This had already been a concern for the Madrigals, but not it felt as though they needed a real game plan.

The conversation was interrupted by the sound of shouting from inside a nearby tent. Two of the voices were clearly Gruber’s and Guillermo’s, but there was a third, unfamiliar one. They were shouting in English so it was difficult for either of the Madrigals to understand them.

Guillermo stormed out of the tent.

“Deal with your people!” Guillermo snapped at Bex as he passed by. He disappeared into a tent opposite of Gruber’s.

“You know it’s bad when he calls them ‘my people,’” Bex said. She entered Gruber’s tent as Bruno and Mirabel followed. “My people, what are we doing to poor Guillermo?”

“He’s being a child!” Gruber snapped.

“A fifteen year old being a child?” Bex feigned astonishment. “Outrageous.”

Gruber ran a hand through salt-and-pepper hair. He was a large and imposing man, standing at 6 foot 2. His sharp, angular features made him rather attractive. His looks were only attenuated by his personality.

There was a second man in the tent, one the Madrigals didn’t recognize. He had short, well coiffed red hair, swept over to one side. He wore a simple gray suit with what was possibly the world’s loudest tie. If another plane flew over the Encanto now, they’d probably be able to see it from thousands of feet in the air.

Gruber’s tent was perfectly organized and minimalistic. There was a table with some kind of blueprint draped over it. In the corner was Gruber’s cot.

“You baby him.” Gruber nearly charged at her, his face close to hers. “You treat him like he can do no wrong and whenever I try to treat him like an adult, you act like I’m the villain.”

Bruno felt his niece lean back against him. He instinctively wrapped a protective arm around her. They had never met someone with this kind of anger. There were plenty of short-tempered people in their village, but Bruno couldn’t recall anyone this unsettling. This was an untamed rage, a rabid animal ready to bite and claw anything that gets too close.

Bruno noticed that Bex was unmoved by Gruber’s behavior. It was possible she was just accustomed to this. As Gruber approached her, Bruno heart started to race. He licked his lips, nervously. He reached out his hand to hover just beside Bex’s arm.

He barely knew her, but he wasn’t about to let anyone get hurt. He was the sort of man who shied away from confrontation and arguments, but his need to protect overrode it. He also didn’t want to let his niece see any woman be harmed by a man. Bex, however, didn’t seem to notice Bruno poised and ready to pull her from danger.

That’s when Gruber caught sight of Bruno and Mirabel. “Why are they here?”

“They came by to visit,” Bex answered. “They are our hosts.”

Gruber shot her a perplexed expression.

“The Madrigals,” Bex reminded him. Gruber had already forgotten who Bruno and Mirabel were.

Like the switch of a light, Gruber’s countenance changed. His scowl was replaced with a friendly grin. It was somehow more terrifying than his fury. It had come on so quickly.

“Ah, the Madrigals, I’m so sorry you had to see that,” Gruber apologized. “Tensions have been… high. All of us have been so stressed.”

“Why were you arguing with him?” Mirabel asked. Bruno tightened his grip on her. If that set off Gruber, he was still ready to keep him away from her.

“Just difference of opinion,” Gruber replied. “Where are my manners? Let me introduce you to my assistant, Archie Robinson.”

“Assistant?” Bex didn’t hide her confusion. “Since when? He’s just some guy who was on the plane with us?” She then addressed Archie directly. “Don’t you sell brushes?”

“A man can move up in the world, you know,” Archie retorted, almost snooty about it. He took a step closer to Bex, encouraging her to take a step back.

“No, no,” Bex held a finger up to Archie. Archie rolled his eyes.

“Robinson understands my vision,” Gruber explained. He motioned to Bruno and Mirabel to come closer. “Let me show you. I think I have an idea Señora Madrigal will love.”

He pointed to the blueprint over the table. Bruno stepped closer, feeling Mirabel stay glued to his side. He didn’t blame her. Looking down at the blueprint, he could see it was the Encanto. Everything had been perfectly mapped out with new buildings added. He felt his heart sink when he noticed that Gruber had added rooms to the casita as well.

“What is this?” Bruno sounded more panicked than he had meant to.

“It might be best if I can show Señora Madrigal my vision for this place,” Gruber explained. “You’re already a very important and respected family in this village, so why not add to your wealth?”

“Wealth?”

“I can make you thousands, maybe even millions!”

“We don’t need thousands or millions,” Bruno said, evenly.

“Of course you do, everyone does,” Gruber argued.

“We mostly barter in the Encanto,” Bruno corrected. “We trade for what we need or give it freely.”

Gruber stared at him as if lobsters were crawling out of his ears. It was an expression Bruno was used to getting. He’d said something wrong again.

But this time, Mirabel backed him up. “We’ve never needed money here. We take care of each other.”

“Aw,” Bex said, earnestly. “That’s actually really nice.”

“But all of you are living as if it were still 1900,” Archie backed up Gruber. “You don’t even have electricity, let alone the modern conveniences you could have.”

“We’re happy with our village the way it is,” Mirabel said.

“Electricity seems like a small price to pay for never going hungry, if you ask me,” Bex defended the Encanto.

“No one did ask you,” Gruber shot back.

“I think I see where Guillermo got so angry,” Bex noted, more amused than upset.

“Why did you add rooms to the casita,” Mirabel was more direct with her question.

Archie jumped in at that. “This was my idea,” he said, proudly. “You could be monetizing your gifts, like your mother.” He pointed to one of the additional rooms. “We could have a whole room dedicated to her healing food, package it up, and sell it to hospitals! Or we get ourselves some door-to-door salesmen to sell it to desperate parents who want to cure their family’s ills.”

“Mamá would never do that,” Mirabel pointed out. “She’d never charge money to heal people.”

“Not to mention that’s a lot of cooking for just one woman,” Bex pointed out.

“That’s why we only help the highest bidders,” Archie countered. “The best hospitals in the world would pay for it.”

Mirabel sneered at that. “Tío, I think we should go.”

Bruno squeezed her arm in agreement.

“Please, think about it,” Gruber pleaded as the three of them exited the tent.

Mirabel angrily threw the door flap down once they were outside. “I can’t believe that man!”

Upon hearing Mirabel’s voice, Guillermo poked his head out of his tent. His eyes landed on Bex almost immediately. “Did you talk to them?”

“More like they talked at us,” Bex said.

Guillermo exited his tent to approach her. “I’m sorry I yelled at you,” he said, softly.

“Don’t apologize, kid, you weren’t really yelling at me,” Bex said. “I know Gruber gets under your skin.”

Guillermo turned to Bruno and Mirabel. “I’m sorry, that man is… is…”

“An idiot,” Bex finished. “But this is what he does. He throws spaghetti at the wall until something sticks. When it doesn’t stick, he moves on.”

“What if he doesn’t move on?” Mirabel asked.

Bex scratched at the back of her head. “I’ll make sure he does,” she didn’t sound convincing. “Hey kiddo,” she addressed Guillermo. “You wanna help me show these two around?”

“Yeah, alright,” Guillermo nodded, calming down. He looked to Mirabel. “Your sister and mother are this way if you’d want to join them.”

“That might be a good idea,” Mirabel agreed.

Guillermo was quite the guide, easily navigating them through the camp to find Mirabel’s mother. The Madrigals learned he was a professional tour guide in Bogotá, despite his young age. It was why he’d been on the plane to begin with; he was Gruber’s official guide in Colombia. Guillermo’s mood picked up as he showed the Madrigals around.

He and Mirabel also compared notes on what it was like to live in Bogotá over the Encanto. They’d missed 50 years of trends and it was fun to learn what they’d missed. There were a few things Mirabel openly wished existed in their village.

When the children were out of earshot, Bruno asked Bex, “You weren’t worried Gruber would hurt you? He strikes me as a pretty violent guy.”

“I know how to navigate him,” Bex answered. “He wants to be feared and beloved all at once. Attacking me would make him feared, but not beloved. I also have an easier time staying pretty calm around him. When I stay calm, it makes him feel like he needs to calm down so he doesn’t look crazy.”

“And if he lost control?”

“I can hold my own, the kids can’t,” Bex said, looking at Guillermo. “Don’t you worry about Gruber. I’ve got him handled. I’ll make sure we’re out of your hair sooner than later.”

Bruno would absolutely worry about Gruber. In fact, he felt even more justified in being worried about Gruber.

He’d feel much better once he could talk to Julieta.

#bruno madrigal #encanto #encanto bruno #mirabel encanto #encanto fanfic #bruno x oc #encanto fic #mirabel madrigal #encanto oc #encanto fandom

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thetavolution · 21 days ago