#gaaawd

Chapter 61: Finding Papá

Bruno Madrigal is missing.

Those were the first words that would come out of the mouths of many two mornings later. 

It had been gloomy in the Encanto as of late, all brought by the anguish of Pepa Madrigal’s gift. It rained and hailed for the days and nights that followed, but nothing could ever satiate the sadness that struck her heart. Not even Camilo, her darling son, nor her dearest husband could calm down the storm that brewed over her head. 

Angelina hadn’t seen you since two days ago; after they eavesdropped on the conversation of adults that one afternoon, you were never seen in the Casita anymore. They never saw their Abuelo Mateo either after someone said he collapsed. 

Where were you? Where was Bruno? Where was Mateo?

“Papá will come back…right?” Javier clung to Ignacio’s sleeve as they sat in the empty dining room. They wanted to help in the search, maybe ease the load that their mother had to carry for the days that their father was missing. They knew how much you adored Bruno, so they weren’t surprised that you led the search. Ignacio held Javier’s hand tightly and leaned his head on top of his brother’s. Angelina had to resist the urge to sniffle as she flew beside Javier and tucked a strand of his long hair behind his ears before giving him a hug.

“He’ll come back. He always comes back. Maybe he just got lost somewhere, you know?” Angelina grounded herself and wrapped her arms around to fit Ignacio in her embrace as well. He might not have liked being comforted by his airhead of an older sister, but Javi needed all the comfort he could get. So he let her be.

“But…but what if he doesn’t?” Javier sniffled. Ignacio took this as an initiative to knock on his forehead three times—much like how their father would do when they were nervous—and gave him a grin. A few flames licked at his lips as he did so, but his control had become better now.

“As much as I don’t like to agree with the birdbrain—”

“Hey!”

“—papá will come back. Maybe Angi’s right; maybe he is just lost somewhere. You know how papá is.”

For a while, it was silent. The triplets were simply lost for words. How could they possibly comfort each other when they deliberately don’t know anything about what's going on? No one was willing to tell them anything, no one was uttering a word, and not even abuela had gone her way to settle the minds of the confused children.

They simply relied on rumors. 

“...You don’t think papá actually went over the mountains, do you?” Javier wondered out loud. “What if the monsters got him—!”

“He can take them!” Angelina proclaimed. She flew in front of her brothers and cried out determinedly. “Papá can take any monster that comes his way! That’s just how strong he is!”

“But what if he doesn’t?” Javier sniffled. “It’s been two days, Angi.”

Angelina grinned and hovered in front of Javier and Ignacio. The boys leaned back at Angelina’s zeal and couldn’t help but blink in confusion. 

“Then we find him, easy!”

“I don’t think that’s such a good idea—”

“Just think about it! I can fly, Javi can fly, and Ignacio can burn his way through the monsters no problem! And if anything goes wrong, Javi can just throw the monsters out with his powers. Being outside will be a cinch!” Angelina squealed and twirled in the air in delight. But the boys were not having it.

“Oye, don’t rope Javi into your ideas,” Ignacio rolled his eyes and stuck his tongue out, a few flames licking the air in front of Angelina. “Mami will be furious if she sees us going out.”

“She won’t be furious if she doesn’t know we’ll be going out,” Angelina grinned. “Come on! You’re already always in trouble. What’s the harm of another one? You know we can just talk our way out. And if that doesn’t work out I’ll just give them my cutest puppy eyes. That always works.”

“I don’t think this is something we can talk our way out of, Angi,” Javier muttered. He nervously glanced at the trembling plates covered in the glow of his magic out of his heightened anxiety and fiddled with the sleeve of Ignacio’s shirt, “this looks pretty serious…and papá’s gonna come back anytime soon, so I think it’s better that we wait for him here.”

“Come on guys, don’t be such babies,” she turned and hovered on her back with a whine, “don’t you want to see the outside? And find papá?”

“You just want to go out.”

“Exactly. But extra perk: we can find papá!”

“In this weather?” Ignacio glanced at the darkening skies. Their Tia Pepa had been in a bad mood since two days ago, so no wonder the Encanto hasn’t seen the sun for days. “I think that’s a bit reckless even for you Angi.”

“Who are you to call me reckless Mister I-blew-up-all-the-fireworks?”

“That was an accident! I sneezed!” “Near the fireworks?!”

“Camilo and I were just going to sneak in to get one!”

“Yeah, sure, whatever.”

“Guys!” Various items in the room shook and hummed as soon as Javier cried out. Ignacio and Angelina instantly shut up and glared at each other before saying;

Tessa & Scott || kiss n' cry