In Their Eyes I See You;
Summary: Alma didn't just lose Pedro.
She lost everything.
Aka Alma sees Pedro and their families in their triplets.
Encantober Bingo 2024: Recognition.
Trigger Warnings: mention of grief, raids, fighting, threats of violence, and implied character death.
Co-written with @igetthedisneybox .
------------------------------------------------------------
Contrary to popular relief, Alma Olga Madrigal Botero (formerly Botero Molinari) didn't just lose her husband the night the raiders attacked.
Didn't just lose her wonderful, wonderful, playful, thoughtful, poetic Pedro….
No.
She lost much more than her husband. Much more than her triplets’ father.
She lost everything.
Her home. Her parents. Her brother. Pedro's family. Even some of her friends.
Alma had lost everything she had ever known in one night, with the exception of her children—her children who she was absolutely terrified to lose and who she held on too tightly to.
Her children.
Pedro's children.
Alma wasn't sure she would be able to live without them if something happened. Didn't want to know if she ever could get over something that horrible.
(Not when she still hadn't gotten over losing Pedro).
She didn't want to imagine her life without her sweet, responsible, sensible Julieta.
Didn't want to imagine her life without her fiery, impassioned, loud Pepa.
Didn't want to imagine her life without her and Pedro’s quirky, helpful, shy little Brunito.
She couldn't bear the thought of losing any of the triplets and so, she refused to even think of such a thing—just like she refused to let herself think of Pedro and the life they had, had all those years ago. When they were young and hopeful and still a they.
But no matter how hard Alma tried, she couldn't completely forget her and Pedro's families— because she saw them in her children every day.
------------------------------------------------------------
Her eldest, her precious Julieta, strongly reminded her of her own mother, Alba.
Her madre had been a strong woman, who knew what she wanted in life. Stern at times, playful at others. She was the head of the family, and Alma’s father liked it that way.
Alma sees the way Julieta acts with her siblings, always leading them, guiding them, sometimes scolding, but other times joining in on the fun. Julieta was never one to back down when she knew she was right.
She recognized her mother in how closely Julieta resembled her—especially after a long sleepless night when she was too tired to take her hair of it's messy braid before having her coffee (before she had lopped it all off in frustration one night).
But the moment where Alma saw her mother in Julieta the most was when she and her eldest had gotten in a fight over the Matriarch’s loud and vocal disapproval of Agustín Rojas Valdez.
“You can not control every single aspect of my life! I love him! And if you don’t accept that, then we’ll just leave!”
------------------------------------------------------------
Alma was four the last time she saw either of her mother's padres.
She didn't remember most of what had occurred.
In fact, all she remembered was that one moment the familia was having dinner and the next her mother was fighting with her mother.
“This is MY life and I refuse to let you control it any longer! Andre is a good man and I will not allow you to continue disrespecting him and our family by insinuating I made a mistake!” Alba had said, arms crossed, chin raised, and a glare in her eyes. “if you can't accept that, then we'll just leave!”
And so they did.
------------------------------------------------------------
Alma stared at her daughter.
Julieta stared right back at her, chin raised. Arms crossed. And a glare in her eyes.
Looking so much like her abuela had—though she'd never know it—just forty years younger.
And maybe, Alma could have continued to argue. Could have risked it like her own grandmother had—but she didn't. Very aware of just how similar her daughter was to her own mother. “Very well.”
Ignoring Julieta's gobsmacked look, Alma turned on her heel and headed to her room. Hoping to shake the spirit of her mother out of her mind before dinner.
------------------------------------------------------------
Pepa, meanwhile, reminded her a lot of her sister-in-law, Alejandra.
Her younger brother, Raimi's, wife.
Alejandra was a wild woman, who participated in sword fighting and liked taxidermy. Her emotions could change on a dime, and she took everything so seriously.
Her family had a miracle of their own: The female Yees could shapeshift into beasts to protect themselves, and the shift was often tied to their emotional states.
Very much like Pepa’s weather powers.
“TOUCH MY HERMANO AGAIN AND I'LL FRY YOU!”
------------------------------------------------------------
“Touch my betrothed again—” Alejandra snarled, towering over two men who had been giving Raimi trouble in her red panda form.
Which wouldn't have been very intimidating if not for the fact she was taller than the homes in their village.
"ALEJANDRA, DON'T—"
“—and I'LL RIP YOU LIMB FROM LIMB!”
The men never bothered Alma's brother again and it was in that moment that Alma knew that no other woman would ever be good enough for her brother in her eyes.
------------------------------------------------------------
“JOSEFA ALEJANDRA INÉS MADRIGAL BOTERO, DON'T YOU DARE!”
And just like Alejandra, Pepa didn't listen to Alma either.
------------------------------------------------------------
Her little Bruno reminded her of both hers, and Pedro’s, fathers.
Her father, Andre, was a shy but playful man. He was a local actor, which Bruno seemed to embrace wholeheartedly.
“My true gift is acting, I always liked to say.” Bruno had joked on numerous occasions before he inevitably put on a show for his sobrinos and their friends with his rats.
------------------------------------------------------------
“Ah, but my dear children, my true gift is acting!” Her father said with a smile on his face, winking— earning a squeal of laughter from a then, three year old, Raimi.
Alma still denied it to this day, but it had earned a snort from her too.
------------------------------------------------------------
Bruno resembled Pedro's father, Fernando, greatly physically. But that didn't mean that their personalities didn't lack similarities.
Like both Bruno and Andre, Ferndando was introverted and shy. He was an animal lover, and just generally goofy, from what Alma remembered of him.
He was also an anxious wreck a lot of the time, something that Bruno unfortunately inherited.
Along with the superstitions.
------------------------------------------------------------
The first time Fernando had met Alma, he'd knocked on wood three times—muttering under his breath—and had thrown salt over his shoulder.
Just barely missing her.
“We don't get a lot of guests.” Pedro had smiled sheepishly at her.
------------------------------------------------------------
Alma sighed, watching as Bruno threw salt over his shoulder—causing it to get in little Camilo’s hair.
Much to Pepa’s fury.
It seemed like Alma would never be able to stop seeing her fallen friends and family in her children or their children.
(Mirabel and Camilo were so much like Pedro —).
It was as if she was being haunted by them….
