By Val_Creative on Ao3
Warnings: blood, bullying
Summary: Some of the townsfolk's children lash out against Bruno. Julieta and Pepa defend him.
*
It's nearly sunset.
Julieta gazes out to the town's hilltop, worrying her lower lip.
"Bruno should have been here..." she murmurs.
"Idiota!" Pepa complains, sulking along in the grass, folding her arms. The clouds darken above them, rumbling occasionally with thunderous lightning. "We're gonna be late for dinner-because of him! He knows how Mamá gets when we're late!"
"Remember what we said about imagining clear skies?" Julieta reminds her, grasping onto Pepa's hand rigidly clutching herself.
"Clear skies... lots of sunshine..."
Pepa's expression untenses as she shuts her eyes, muttering aloud.
Her mouth quirks up faintly.
"Rainbows..."
Julieta finds herself with a similar smile despite her apprehension for a missing Bruno. She knows him. Bruno wouldn't purposely try to make Alma Madrigal furious, or get his siblings into trouble with her. He's being held up somewhere. They should find him.
"Clear skies... clear skies..." Pepa repeats like a mantra, following the tug of Julieta's hand with eyes still shut, "clear skies..."
*
Looking back, Julieta wonders if going alone had been better... no, not better.
Not about what happened.
*
"He said my goldfish would die!"
One of the townsfolk's children lurches backwards, presenting out her bowl of sloshing water. It's empty.
"Sí, Bruno makes bad things happen!"
And so appears the metal pail in another child's hands. Inside, all of it stained a deep red.
"Hijueputa!"
The swear word flies angrily from an older boy's lips. He's much older than Bruno, Julieta, and Pepa.
All of the children are.
They gather around Bruno, staring wide-eyed in fear or in ludicrously exaggerated anger, but keep their distance.
He's slopping in deep red liquid, Julieta immediately recognizes it.
Blood-an animal's blood.
The child holding the pail out is the child of their town's local butcher.
Out of everyone Julieta knows, Bruno loved animals most. He befriends rats and mice living in the field outside of their home, having conversations with them, singing to them. Bruno cannot even eat meat, sneaking his plate to the gardener's hound.
"What... have you done?" Pepa whispers to the others, seemingly astonished.
Julieta lets out a tearful moan.
Bruno gawks down at his hands, stunned. The whites of his eyes enlarge.
His knees crash onto the dirt.
"No, no," Julieta whispers, heaving herself down beside Bruno and grabbing hold. "Dios mío-Bruno, what did they do? Bruno?" When he responds in a moan, smaller but similar to Julieta's own, Pepa exposes her gritting teeth. Her brow darkens.
And so does the skies.
Huge, swirling and black funnels descend from nothingness. Rainwater blows icy into their faces, drenching clothes.
The very edges of Pepa's narrowed eyes illuminate a glow-green.
"Pepa!" Julieta begs, trying to keep herself and Bruno steady as she lifts him onto his feet. "I need you!"
Children retreat, shrieking and stomping. The townsfolk peek out of their colorfully shuttered windows, bewildered.
"Now!"
"Ay, I'm coming!" Pepa huffs.
She joins them after taking a deep breath to calm herself and their surroundings no longer blustering cold. The winds dying.
*
Due to all of the rainwater, and the mightiest might of Pepa's tempest, a lot of the fresh pig blood drips off Bruno. She's less worried about that and more worried about how no matter if Julieta softly calls to him, or how an irritated Pepa badgers a dull-eyed Bruno in his ear...
He doesn't speak.
They lead him home.
*
Mamá waits in the entrance, her hands gathered together, as their casita quivers its decorative, painted tiles and wood-panels.
Her children hesitate.
No...
Julieta's throat clenches up a swallow.
She glances over Bruno's wretched face streaked with dark, clotted gunk, and Julieta's dusty skirts, and the wetness in Pepa's curls and eyes. Mamá does nothing, says nothing, and walks back inside. Pepa's teeth expose again in a grit, as she seethes.
"We did it, Bruno," Julieta's voice wavers, but her grin brightens them. "You and me and Pepa... because we love each other, don't we?"
*
The sun sets.
Julieta quietly thanks casita for tip-tapping up a bowl of mondongo and fried fish from the dinner Mamá refused them.
She can't heal emotional pain. Only ailments and illnesses and broken bones. Julieta uses her healing instead to gently wipe off Bruno's skin, helping him change into one of his favorite green ruanas, encouraging Pepa to change out the water.
"This was exhausting!" Pepa yells, flopping down on Julieta's bed. She curls up to Bruno's hip.
His lips tremble.
Julieta's fingers thoughtfully tuck a strand of his hair behind an ear. She kisses Bruno, eyeing him with a familiar, warm grin as he starts weeping. Pepa's own lips mimic his trembling. She sniffles, curling up tighter to him, hugging Bruno's leg.
"M'sorry..."
"Bruno, you don't have to be sorry..." Julieta insists, cradling Bruno's head in. "You don't have to..."
He doesn't have to be anyone but Bruno to his sisters.
It's enough.
*
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Bruno Madrigal Oneshots
FanfictionHere's a collection of my favorite Bruno Madrigal fics from Ao3 and one's that I have written myself to keep them in a place where i can read them and share them with you guys :) here are the authors and their pieces which i will credit again in th...
