Runaway(an Encanto AU)

Chapter 9

     My mind was foggy as I walked down the stairs, the harsh light of dawn in the dark making me squint. I made my way to the kitchen, spotting Luisa in the middle of making the coffee. "Good morning Mirabel," Luisa looked at me, then back to the coffee before doing a double take, "hey are you okay?" She set down what she was doing and came over to me, looking me over, "you look exhausted. You should probably go back to bed."
    "I had a hard time sleeping," I admitted. I looked at Luisa. Of everyone in the Madrigal household, she seemed like the one who would stick to the facts, the one who would be the most unbiased, "can I have your help?"
    Luisa gently grasped my shoulders, "anything."
    "I don't know what to think about tio Bruno, everybody only seems to have terrible things to say about him, but I grew up with him and he wasn't a bad person. At least, not that I remember."
    Luisa paused, being careful with her words, "I'll tell you what I think. I resent him for having taken you, for having hurt Dolores, for having abandoned the family. But, and this is a big but, I don't think he does what he does without reason." It didn't help much, but it did settle some of the more confusing things I was facing.
    "Thank you Luisa, may I help you with the coffee?"
    She patted my head, smiling, "yeah." Although I only caught the tail end of the process, Luisa still let me pour the coffee and showed me how much milk and sugar to add. "I haven't spoken to you in a whole day, how have you been doing?"
    "I'm overwhelmed with the number of people I need to get to know, but it's getting easier," I took a sip and grimaced, it was too bitter for me. I reached over to scoop more of the sugar into the cup, "I spent a lot of time with Camilo yesterday, and a little bit with tia Peppa."
    Luisa rolled her eyes a little at the mention of Camilo, "has he played any tricks on you yet?"
    I blinked, "no, not that I know of."
    "Well be prepared," Luisa took a chug of her coffee, "he's good at making people smile but he's also a bit of a trickster too."
"I'll keep that in mind," I agreed before taking another sip, this time just right, if not too sweet.
     "Good morning," abuela nodded at the two of us, then Luisa handed abuela her coffee, "thank you Luisa." I stared at her, taking another sip as I followed my train of thought. "Mirabel? Can I do something for you?" Abuela asked, warm concern in her tone.
     "I was just thinking about how I haven't really had a chance to be around you. It's just been the rest of the family," I glanced at Luisa, then back to abuela, "but you are often busy and I don't want to disrupt your schedule-"
     "We can find time today," abuela insisted, "After dinner tonight we can walk around town."
     "Really?"
     "Yes Mirabel," she smiled at me with this expression of warmth and love that only a grandmother could give.
     I would have hugged her if I hadn't still seen her as more of an authoritative figure, "but you're still busy the rest of the day?"
"I need to stay up to date with everything in the village," abuela agreed, turning to sit at her spot at the table.
     The first person to walk through the door was Dolores, who hesitated when she saw me, however I didn't. I immediately ran up to her and hugged her, "Dolores, you couldn't drive me away even if you tried."
     "W- where did you hear about that?" she tried to cover it up, but I could hear the anxiety in her voice.
     "It doesn't matter," I hugged her tighter, "because I meant what I said."
She paused, but returned the hug, "thank you Mirabel."
"Aw," I heard Peppa coo in the doorway, adoring our little hug.
I let Dolores go and looked at Peppa, "good morning tia Peppa."
Peppa had her hands clasped together next to her face, but went to hug her daughter, "are you finally feeling better about yourself?"
Dolores shyly kept her gaze to the ground as her mother smothered her in a hug, "a little."
"Good morning prima Mirabel," a small yawn came from the doorway.
"Good morning Antonio," I walked over to him and ruffled his hair, "how are you doing?"
"I'm good," Antonio finished rubbing his eyes and smiled brightly at me, "You're making friends with Dolores?"
I chuckled, "I've been trying to, but she kept running away."
Antonio turned to his sister, and joined the hug between Peppa and Dolores, "Please don't run away from prima Mirabel anymore."
Dolores smiled at her little brother, "I won't, promise."
I watched them happily, glad to see so much love between them, but jumped when I was suddenly hugged too, "Ah! Mi sobrinita!"
I looked and relaxed, "hi tio Felix."
He let me go, "hey. I'm sorry about yesterday. Peppi talked to me about it. I was just trying to keep everyone from unnecessary harm, but you already had it figured out huh."
"It's okay, I understand."
He nodded, "still. I'm sorry I didn't hear you out first." He gave me another quick hug before joining his family.
"Hey," I jumped and whipped my head around, finding Camilo with a mischievous smirk, "everyone has barely gotten up and it looks like you've already got them pouring their hearts out."
"I guess so, but I'm not sure how it keeps happening," I stared at Felix fixing up Antonio's appearance for breakfast.
Camilo patted me on the back, "well keep doing it."
He started to walk away but Dolores perked up, "Camilo I heard that!"
"Heard what?" he protested.
"Mirabel, turn around," Dolores ordered, walking towards me. I was confused, but complied. I felt Dolores tug the back of my shirt a little and saw her hold up a paper that said "kick me" on it.
"Whaaat?" Camilo held up his hands up to either side, "you know I had to! OH GOD NO!" Dolores started to chase him out of the kitchen, leaving laughter in their wake.
Once Peppa dragged them back we sat down to eat. I felt so content that I almost forgot about Bruno. Almost. Despite the comfort and love I felt by being here, I also missed some of the happy times Bruno and I shared out in the forest. I almost felt...homesick about it. I felt sicker about not knowing whether Bruno truly cared about me.
It only then occurred to me that I hadn't visited him in over a day. Maybe I should ask him about it myself. But what if he lies? How was I supposed to tell? I shook my head and took another bite, I'd just have to figure it out somehow. After the meal was finished we cleaned up the dishes and left the kitchen. I stopped in the middle of the room, staring at Bruno's door upstairs, struggling to find the courage to go up there.
"Are you okay prima Mirabel?" I looked to see Antonio.
"Yeah," I replied, "how come you're always worried about me?"
"Well," the little boy twisted his fingers between his hands, looking off to the side, "it's just that Bruno's-"
"Tonito," abuela interrupted. She sounded caring but there was an intensity in her eyes, "I need your help for a moment." Antonio hesitated, looking like he'd gotten in trouble, but followed abuela nonetheless. What was he trying to tell me about Bruno? I thought about going to Dolores, but I wanted to get this over with.
I made my way to Bruno's door and hesitated, "Bruno?"
"Hi Mirabel," he sounded worn out, like my having forgotten him sucked the life out of him, "is everything alright?"
"I just...had questions," Luckily because of the door, I didn't have to hide the doubt on my face.
"Ask away."
"Why did you take me from here?" I could feel the weight of the questions start to press in on me.
"The short answer, to keep you safe. The long answer, I had a vision that would've led to the family treating you horribly."
I stared at the door, "and how would you have known that."
Bruno paused, seeming a little surprised by my skepticism, "because I have personal experience. I-"
"You didn't stop to talk to anyone about it," I pointed out.
"There was no time to do that."
"Did your vision have any direct references to me being treated poorly?"
"...no. But-"
"So there was no guarantee that they would have hurt me and you decided to take me anyway?"
"I was going to-"
I couldn't listen to this anymore, my head was throbbing with confusion and hurt. I walked away, leaving Bruno alone with his muffled explanations. I sat against a wall where I wouldn't be able to see Bruno's door and buried my face in my arms.
"Mirabel?" my dad had stopped sweeping and looked at me, "what's wrong?"
He knelt down next to me, and I looked away from him. "I wanted answers from Bruno and got more than I bargained for," I mumbled.
He pulled me into a hug, "do you want me to talk to him?"
"No. I just want to move on." Dad just nodded and stayed with me, telling me little stories about my siblings and how he met my mother. He was super expressive about it, using different voices, making big and small gestures with his face, hands, and fingers. It reminded me of Bruno's telenovelas whenever I was bored or sad. Soon I was feeling less overwhelmed and got up, "thanks dad."
"Any time mi vida," he hugged me again and got back to work. I went to find Dolores, since she would know the most about the situation besides Bruno himself. I looked around the house but before I could find Dolores, I ran into abuela and Antonio.
"Hey is everything okay? You kind of left in a hurry."
Abuela gently nudged Antonio. "Sorry Mirabel," he smiled awkwardly, "I shouldn't have worried you like that. I just heard mami saying something about Bruno but it wasn't true."
It felt a little odd that Antonio would choose to regurgitate something his mom would say instead of thinking about it first, but he was still a kid so it also made some sense. "Hey, it's alright," I knelt down and patted his head, "I know that you mean well."
He seemed to freeze, but quickly caught up with reality again, "ah, tha- thank you, I'll try to be more careful!"
"I'm going to go find Dolores, I'll see you at dinner Antonio."
Antonio waved at me as I walked away, "bye Mirabel!"

Authors note: shoutout to roroandtheseas, I'm not big on poems but I love yours, keep up the good work! Please check them out