Bruno’s Daughter
Author: In my most recent post, I made a headcanon based around my OC Antonella finding Bruno (her dad) with Mirabel in Antonio’s room
TW: Angst, daddy issues, a lot of that stuff
After the shit show dinner and proposal that night, Antonella needed a break from her hectic family. She retired to her room, deciding to organize her bookshelves to calm her nerves down. Mirabel tried explaining to her before that something was up with the encanto, but....was that really true? She’ll admit, she’s felt different the whole day like something was off.
No, it wasn’t a cold, she didn’t have a fever or feel sick.
And her powers....they were all out of whack during dinner. She couldn’t see her Abuelo at the table. She couldn’t even feel his presence. He was always there, every single night. But that night, something was wrong. She could barely feel any presence of the other spirits in her room. What was causing this to happen?
Suddenly glass shattered next to her, causing her to jump. The book Antonella pulled out accidentally knocked over one of her orbs, causing it to shatter into a gazillion pieces.
“Dios Mio!” She groaned, leaning down to pick up the shards. Making spirit orbs was already difficult for her to do, and it was her favorite one too. “I can’t seem to catch a break, can I casita?” She mumbled beneath her breath. There was a squeak. Antonella turned her head to see a small rat perched up on a shelf, sniffing around before looking at her with the most curious expression it could muster. “What are you doing here little one? Shouldn’t you be in Antonio’s room?” It cocked it’s head to the side. She smiled softly. “Here, I’ll bring you back.” Antonella held out her hands and the baby rat climbed into her palms. How in the world did it get so far from Antonio’s room? His room is all the way down the hall. Hmm, must’ve slipped out by accident and lost its way. Antonella knocked and opened the door. It’s not like her cousin was gonna hear her anyways. “Tonito? I found one of your animals--” She stopped dead in her tracks. A gust of green sand swirled around on top of the tree, the winds ferociously whipping around. “Antonio? Are you there? Hello?” She called out, pushing past the wind and holding the rat to her chest tightly. What was that thing? What was happening? She pinned herself against the tree so she didn’t blow away once she got close enough.
“ISABELA?!” Mirabel shrieked. Mirabel? What in the world?
It all stopped, the currents in the wind vanishing along with the sand turning back to normal falling back to the ground, ya’know, where sand should be. Antonella tried to quietly calm the baby rat that slipped out of her hands and climbed up the tree, frightened. “It’s okay, shh, shh, everything is alright--”
“Oh your sister, that’s great!”
That voice. She knows that voice. Looking past the tree, lo and behold, it was him. It was her papá. It was Bruno Madrigal. Mirabel growled in anger, scrunching up her hands while Bruno was holding up a green glass slab. Antonella came out of the shadows, disbelief in her green eyes. Her heart began to race, her stomach instantly growing sick.
“Papa?”
Both Mirabel and Bruno turned their heads, eyes wide. Oh….shit. He stared at his daughter, swallowing hard. “Uh…hey?” He waved at her, Mirabel looking back between the two with fear on her face.
“Nella, look, I know this looks bad, b-but Tio Bruno, he’s trying to help the familia! He showed me how to save the family and casita and the encanto!” Mirabel rambled on nervously, trying to explain to her cousin what she just saw. Antonella wasn’t listening though, her mind grew fuzzy with a million thoughts. “Once everything is fixed things will go back to normal and Luisa will have her powers back and our home will be okay and yeah I have to make up with Isabela to do that and that sorta sucks but we’re all gonna be alright!” Mirabel grabbed her hand, then wiped a tear that began to roll down her face. She didn’t even realize she started to cry. “Antonella…you….okay?”
She finally took her eyes off Bruno and looked at Mirabel. “I…I…” she stepped back, shaking her head and biting down on her trembling bottom lip. “I’m sorry, I have to go.” She turned quickly and ran down the tree, trying to wipe her eyes in case someone saw her.
“Antonella!”
“Antonella please! Wait!” Bruno called after her.
Mirabel and Bruno called after her but she refused to look back. She ran out of Antonio’s room and down the hall back to her own, slamming the door shut. How dare he just come back! Now?! Now he wants to come back?! She wasn’t even mad at Mirabel for this, how could she be? She’s just trying to help the family. Not long after, her door opened and closed shut once again.
“Antonella, I-I can explain!” Bruno followed after her as she ignored his pleads. He twisted and turned between bookshelves which seemed endless. He had forgotten how big her room was, lit with candles everywhere you looked, glowing orbs floating in the air, giant dream catchers hanging from oblivion that you could sit on while admiring the pink and blue clouds and waterfalls that fleshed out into a huge river. Just like the rest of her family, her room was unique. Bruno rushed up the marble stairs that led to her bed which floated on clouds. “Anton--”
“WHAT?!” She zipped around, tears now streaming down her angered face. Her dad jumped back, almost frightened. “WHAT DO YOU WANT?!”
“I just want to talk,” he spoke softly.
“About what? What do you want to talk about?” She tried to make her tone sharp and stern, but it was impossible right now. “Actually, I can think of something,” Antonella laughed, stepping closer. “How about we talk about you leaving me! Hm?”
Bruno’s face saddened, looking up at her. “I didn’t want to leave you--”
“That’s such a lie! You just got up and left without even caring!” Her room shook as her voice echoed throughout it. “You didn’t even say goodbye!” She wrapped her arms around herself, her body shaking as she looked away. “How do you think I felt when I couldn’t find you? I was eight years old! I looked everywhere for you and you weren’t there….” Antonella began to cry harder. “You weren’t there, and now you show up and try to fix things like that’s gonna help?” She shook her head, finally finding the courage to look at her papá. “You left me…just like mom did.”
That broke Bruno’s heart. He never thought his daughter looked at him like that. He thought he was doing a good thing, protecting his familia and most importantly his daughter. He didn’t want her to grow up with a father who made bad things happen and everyone hated her for it, she didn’t deserve that, and with Mirabel’s prophecy it…
It seemed like the right thing to do at the time.
“Nella--”
“No.” Antonella cut him off. “No you aren’t allowed to use that nickname. My family is.”
“Mija…I am your family,” Bruno tried wrapping his arms around his daughter, attempting to console her. Antonella nearly let him too, before stepping out of his grip.
“No you’re not. You barely even know me.” She pushed him back, attempting to dry her tears for the second time and failing once again. “So go! Leave! I’m fine on my own!”
“Amor--!”
“I don’t need you! I never needed you!”
It felt like his throat began to close up, his anxiety building higher and higher. Bruno didn’t know what to do, he didn’t know how to make things better. Wasn’t that his job as a father? To pick her up when she fell down? To remind her that she’s brave and beautiful when she feels bad about herself? To be there for her as a shoulder to cry on and lean against when she couldn’t hold herself up?
“Just get out of my life! It’s not like you were there for most of it anyways!”
Silence. There was nothing but silence. They stared at one another, father and daughter, in agonizing silence. Bruno sucked in a breath, his eyes glazing over with tears and nodding his head. “I’ll go…” He backed away and turned his back on her. He looked like he was going to say something more, but decided not to, descending down the steps. Antonella watched her father leave, just like he had ten years ago, until she couldn’t see him anymore.
