Bruno Madrigal Oneshots

The World Doesn't End (2)

by Lolapola on Ao3

warnings: Non-graphic allusions to the death of babies in childbirth

summary: Five times Bruno's presence wasn't wanted, and one time it really, really was.

One and a half times, actually, but that doesn't flow off the tongue quite as well

The incident with Señor Cadiz was the first time someone had simply come out and said it. And while it was by no means the last, there was no instant hostility, no pitchforks or angry mobs or confrontations in the street. Bruno is very sure that it was mostly down to some impressive damage control by his mother and maybe Julieta, but there was no opening of the floodgates like Bruno had feared. When Mamá had finally come home hours later, an exhausted Julieta in tow, she had gathered Bruno into her arms and assured him that no one blamed him for what happened.

It was an outright lie, but Bruno had appreciated the attempt.

The town had mourned, and after eight months, a pale and drawn Señora Cadiz had come to Casita to apologise. Grief and shock had twisted her mind, she told him in a low, toneless voice, and she knew her husband would never have wanted her to add to the trauma of that day for anyone.

She apologised, and maybe Bruno was paranoid, but he wasn't entirely sure she took it back.

Bruno accepted her apology gracefully, and offered her his condolences, Mamá watching him like a hawk. Bruno had looked at anywhere but her, unable to forget that no matter what anyone said, the first thing she had done was remove him.

Get Bruno out of here, before things get any worse.

In a shaking, tremulous voice, Bruno had apologised for not getting there sooner. For avoiding his vision to have breakfast with his sisters, he thought, but didn't say. For not going straight to Señor Cadiz and telling him to stop tying the rope.

Apologies were made and tributes to Señor Cadiz were made, and the school building was eventually finished and dedicated to him, and slowly, the town moved on.

Still.

If the townsfolk seemed wary around Bruno before, now they hold him at a distance. Visitors asking for a vision have dwindled to those who are desperate and despairing.

Bruno leaves Casita less, and he works on The Plan. Now, he gives the prophecies to Mamá to dole out, rather than running down into the town himself.

Bruno is 16, and unless his mother insists he show his face or his sisters drag him out, he stays in the safety of Casita as much as he can.

Today, he can't.

Today, Adriana and Guillermo are having a baby, and he is accompanying Mamá into town to visit them.

When someone in the town is due to give birth, Mamá always visits them with Julieta, who brings her healing food just in case, and Bruno, who is offered to the expectant parents to give them a chance to prepare for whatever is coming. They've done it for years. Sometimes – less so recently – they ask for the vision. Even if they say no, they usually ask him to stay, sometimes changing their minds and asking halfway through if the birth is long or difficult.

It is Bruno's most hated and most favourite job, because so rarely these days does he get to give good news in person, and so rarely is that good news so good.

But on the other side of that coin, if the news is bad, there is no worse prophecy to have to give.

He can usually tell which way it's going to go the stronger his headache is as he approaches the house, and several times he's begged Mamá to let him stay in his cave and use Pepa as a messenger. He even heard Julieta arguing with her about it, once, after one of the bad times. But Mamá put her foot down. This is his duty, she told them both, and he owes it to the townsfolk to deliver it in person. He thinks it's for the sake of the good visions that she insists – just one of those is enough to boost his reputation for weeks as the grateful parents thank him and tell everyone how reassuring it was to hear – but he's not sure. He often can't tell what his mother is thinking.