Work Text:
Disclaimer: I do not own Encanto or any of the characters. Only my OC villain.
———
Cold Dreams, Warm Hugs - An El Encanto Oscuro Tale.
———
It had been five days since Bruno had been rescued from his prison in the walls. His health was very slowly getting better, but he still needed a LOT of rest to recover both physically and mentally from his time held captive by the dark being called Heraldo.
The family was absolutely SPOILING Bruno however they could. He got snacks and drinks whenever he wanted. He got hugs every time he asked for one, and sometimes even EXTRA! He was constantly being wrapped up in warm blanket burritos, which he appreciated because he realized he now HATED the cold with a passion. His room was getting remodeled too! Well, just the antechamber really, but at least he’d have a proper space all to himself now! There would even be a BED! Bruno was practically being waited on hand and foot, and he was ecstatic to be home with his family. However, that didn’t mean all was well with the formerly incarcerated silent seer.
You see…. Bruno was about to realize just how much Heraldo was haunting him.
———
“Ok, Bruno. You can do this. Just open the door!” Thought Bruno as he stood in front of his now glowing door. He knew he’d have to face his room again eventually. He just wished he wasn’t so nervous about it. However, he couldn’t put this off forever. Besides, he wanted to see what his family had done with the place.
Bruno reached for the door… but when he finally grabbed the doorknob, it felt cold to the touch. He wanted to pull his hand away, but it was as if it had been frozen to the doorknob. He had no choice but to twist his hand to try to get it unstuck… which worked, but it also opened the door. Bruno looked up as the door opened, his eyes widening in utter horror. Because the figure he had learned to fear for 10 years, the creature that was supposed to be DEAD… was floating right there. Heraldo, the dark mist creature that was like the living embodiment of darkness itself, was somehow alive again. Bruno gasped and tried to back away, but his hand was somehow once again frozen to the door. This time frost slowly spread out from his palm to his fingers, making him further stuck. And Heraldo was floating ever closer, speaking in a cold voice.
“Did you really think you could escape so easily?” Bruno wanted to yell, scream for help, fight back, do ANYTHING, but with his palm frozen to his doorknob he was stuck in place. And as Bruno tried opening his mouth, Heraldo’s tendrils shot out, one of them wrapping around his head over mouth, completely muffling any sound he might have tried to make. Heraldo somehow felt more solid than before but at the same time as unnaturally light as ever. How else would the mist be able to gag its victim?
Bruno tried kicking his legs and lashing out with his free arm, but Heraldo simply grabbed those too. The terrifying unnatural cold Heraldo exerted spread through Bruno along with new frost, all down his neck, and up his arm and his legs.
“Keeping you imprisoned in the walls clearly wasn’t enough.” Bruno’s eyes began to glow, first green but then purple, as was typical when Heraldo highjacked his Gift. Bruno was forced to see horrific images of his family members frozen in black and purple ice, surrounded by the crumbling walls of the Casita as it collapsed around them, and sweet Mirabel lying dead in the middle of the carnage, a broken sword in her hand.
Bruno was crying now, his tears freezing to his face as he tried to sob, but couldn’t because he was effectively gagged by whatever dark water Heraldo’s mist was composed of. Bruno also finally realized that Heraldo had frozen his mouth shut. He tried to scream in the back of his throat, but he doubted Dolores could hear him over the sound of cracking he was hearing ring out all around him. Bruno could just barely see out of the corners of his eyes that the cracking was coming from the crumbling floor and walls. The cracks even went across his door. Heraldo released a dark chuckle as Bruno shook and cried in utter terror.
“Apparently the only way to truly silence you… is to freeze you out and bury you completely!”
The cruel frost began to spread faster and thicker, creating layers of solid cold restriction over Bruno’s now blue skin. The seer tried to scream so hard despite how futile it seemed, that he felt unseen hot liquid going down his throat. He almost choked on it.
Bruno tried to fight against the frost by moving as much as he could, but Heraldo only tightened his grip. And as the frost and ice finally moved to completely cover Bruno’s face, Heraldo dropped Bruno, who quickly realized that he was falling into a cold and dark abyss, pieces of the falling apart floor along with his now splintered door following after him. Heraldo laughed maniacally as Bruno fell.
Bruno’s hand was still frozen to that doorknob, even inside the ice that now completely encased him.
———
Alma Madrigal had been doing a lot of thinking over the past week. Ever since Antonio’s gift ceremony and her Brunito’s homecoming, so many things had changed, most of them for the better.
For one thing, she was talking with her family about their feelings and their problems, and connecting with each one of them on an emotional level. It was almost overwhelming how many things she had been blind to, but she was working to fix them now.
Another thing was that she realized that her family was getting overworked and over-pressured (especially Luisa!) and that she needed to give them more time to themselves. Which unintentionally but pleasantly led to the family members spending more time with each other, and giving Bruno and Mirabel some proper extra attention. Those two especially deserved it after everything they went through, though now everyone in the family was making sure no one was ever being ignored.
And lastly, Alma’s only son was finally home, and safe from that horrible creature who took Bruno away from her. Alma couldn’t help but want to cry when she thought of it. Her youngest child was so so ill and worn. He was also terrified of his powers because of all of the gift hijacking he endured, and he looked terribly frightened whenever he felt the slightest chill because of Heraldo’s violence. Her poor baby boy…. reduced to near-total vocal silence because he didn’t feel safe enough to speak…. because he had been abused so badly. It hurt the family so badly to see him that way, especially Alma.
But even so, Alma got to hug her son, to see him smile at her every day, and to help take care of him and heal his illnesses for the first time in 10 long years. She wouldn’t trade that for the world!
Alma was laying awake in bed, kept up by worry over her currently quite ill son, and taking a moment to evaluate herself on how she has been treating her family today, especially Bruno and Mirabel. It was something she started doing a few days ago to try to reverse her recently revealed destructive habits. So far it seemed to be helping. It reminded Alma to be more considerate of the feelings of others, though it was definitely affecting her sleep patterns lately. It seemed like Alma was finally going to be going to sleep soon without incident, satisfied that she had once again shown a few minor improvements, even though she had basically already been up all night again.
Then suddenly, Alma heard what could only have been a primal scream of torturous terror ring out from the Nursery. Alma shot straight up in bed with a gasp because that could only be one thing.
BRUNO! HER SON WAS IN PERIL!
Alma rushed down the hallway with Casita’s assistance as fast as she could without breaking something. Alma regretfully ignored the shouts of worry and horror that her other family members were making as they threw open their bedroom doors. Alma vaguely hoped Dolores kept her door closed. The sound of Bruno’s screams was loud enough to potentially make her ears bleed.
Once Alma got her bearings, she could see that she wasn’t the first person to try to help Bruno. Mirabel was already on the scene, sobbing and holding her poor Tío with hankies stuffed in her ears to block out some of the heart-wrenching screams of anguish.
“ABUELA I CAN’T MAKE HIM STOP! HE’S BLEEDING FROM THE MOUTH HE’S SCREAMING SO HARD! PLEASE HELP HIM!” Poor Mirabel was so worried and had no idea what to do. She was only 15 after all!
Alma rushed over to the small bed Bruno was currently occupying, noticing that her son’s bed things were piled up on the floor. It seems like Bruno’s blanket had fallen off in his sleep. The chill must have somehow triggered the dream if Alma had to make her best guess. Looking at him immediately made Alma’s heart break.
Bruno had been gripping Mirabel at first, but when Mirabel moved away to let Alma in Bruno started thrashing and somehow screamed even louder. There was red on the edge of his lips. The distressed seer had screamed so hard that his mouth and the inside of his throat were bleeding. Alma tried to shake Bruno awake but it wasn’t helping! And if this kept up he could cause new problems for his poor ailing chest and lungs!
Alma kept trying to wake Bruno up to no avail for several minutes. Eventually though, one of Bruno’s rats scurried over and bit one of Bruno’s fingers. Alma went to scold the creature, but the rat bite had actually worked to rouse Bruno from his dream.
As soon as the rat let go of him Bruno practically shot up in bed as fast as lightning, back ramrod straight and breath coming in rasping, desperate, slightly watery gasps. He also seemed to be staring off into the distance as if not totally aware of his environment. Alma slowly and gently reached out to the suffering seer, who still flinched unconsciously at the hug, not even aware of what was happening around him. Alma though simply held Bruno and carded her hand through his messy locks while slowly rocking him back and forth.
“Shhhhh. It’s ok. Breathe now. You’re safe now Brunito. Mamí’s got you. You’re ok. Oh, my poor boy.” Aside from speaking gently to him, Alma could do nothing but hold her son and try to wipe his tears away. Bruno eventually leaned into the contact, but not until after several painstaking moments of more shaking with that frightening spaced-out expression. After a full 10 minutes of Bruno whimpering and leaning into the gentle grounding hug his mother was giving him, the seer blinked a few times and finally looked at Alma directly in the eye. Alma tried to smile when she noticed.
“There we go. Are you back now Bruno? Squeeze my hand if you can hear me clearly.” Bruno squeezed Alma’s hand and she sighed in relief, but she still continued to comfort Bruno.
“That must have been one horrible nightmare…” Bruno could only nod and snuggle Alma back. He still wasn’t talking yet. Alma wouldn’t have wanted him to try yet though anyway considering his poor throat was basically torn to shreds. That and because she was learning not to pressure him to act more ok than he really was just to keep up an image. Mirabel made it clear that forcing him to try talking sooner than he felt was safe would only damage Bruno more. Alma couldn’t bear doing that to her niño, especially when he was trying to trust her enough to let her help him in his recovery.
“Was IT in your dream Mijo?” Knowing full well exactly who his mother meant, Bruno nodded again, looking teary-eyed, and gripped Alma as if expecting her to vanish into the ether. Alma caressed his face and wiped the salty drops away from the corners of his eyes.
“Oh, my boy… You’re safe now. That fiend who took you can never hurt you again because it’s long gone.” Alma grabbed the fallen blanket and wrapped it around Bruno again. “See? You’re nice and warm and safe. No more chill.” Bruno gripped the blanket tight around himself with one hand even as he continued to hold onto his mother. Alma’s heart broke for him, especially as she was wiping the blood from Bruno’s mouth with a hanky. He desperately needed Julieta’s lulada or soup or something! But Alma also needed to find out what he has dreamt that lead to Bruno hurting himself in his sleep.
“Do you have the strength to use your signs mijo?” Bruno hesitantly nodded. Alma tried to speak as gently as possible once she knew her son was calm enough to use hand signs. She knew this next part wouldn’t be easy.
“Alright, Mijo. Are you ok to tell us what your dream was about?” When Bruno only looked upset Alma continued to calmly try to convince him to try.
“Brunito, if you truly do not wish to talk about it yet you don’t have to. But take it from me…. Procrastinating about nightmare conversations for too long is more damaging than you would think. I do not want you to suffer more than this if we can avoid it.”
Yesterday Alma finally admitted that she still got nightmares of Pedro’s death. It was difficult, but admitting it had made her feel less alone with the dreams. She wanted her boy to feel like he wasn’t alone in it too at the very least.
Bruno hesitated for a moment, but then he got his shaky hands to start signing, with Mirabel interpreting for him. When his hands shook, Alma could easily imagine them to be like stutters in Bruno’s words that she was sure she would have heard if he had used his voice to explain the dream.
“I was standing alone in front of my door. I went to open it and my hand got stuck to the knob, forcing me to open it. And when I did… H-Heraldo was there on the other side. I was t-terrified but my hand on the door kept me from running. H-Heraldo started freezing me as he went on about how he should have killed me to truly keep the secret of my vision secret. A-and he hijacked my gift again. He made me see images of Mirabel d-dead, and the rest of the family f-frozen solid like I was about to be. A-and as the ice spread over me the house started f-falling apart again. Even my door cracked and fell apart. I tried to scream, b-but my mouth had been long since frozen shut. I… fell through the floor as I f-froze completely solid, still holding my broken-off doorknob.”
Bruno shuddered as his retelling ended. Alma was horrified by the contents of that dream. Her poor Brunito! He didn’t deserve to feel such fear, or to suffer such a horrible dream! However, it was Mirabel who seemed to have figured out the secret of the dream’s hidden secondary root cause.
“Tío… are you afraid to go into your old room?” Bruno was wide-eyed with shock that Mirabel deduced it so quickly…. But he did nod, answering her with honesty.
“I-I’m afraid that ALL of this will have turned out to be a dream… th-that everything that happened after my vision on your birthday was all just an elaborate vision Heraldo was forcing into my head, o-or that the fiend’s death was a dream or something. This whole thing started in my old falling-apart room. I’m terrified that IT is waiting for me there… ready to t-take me all over again or destroy us all…” Bruno trembled in his mother’s arms. Mirabel meanwhile gave Bruno a reassuring look.
“Well Tío, I can tell you that that dream is NOT gonna come true. Mostly because Heraldo’s dead, but also because you’re NOT facing your old room alone! We’re all gonna be there for you when you go in, and only when YOU feel ready to face it. Ok?” Bruno couldn’t help but give Mirabel a little smile and a nod.
“We’re gonna prove this was all real by giving you the best room makeover ever! The differences between your old and redecorated rooms might be enough to ground you in reality. But for now, I think you need a good dose of love and reassurance.” And with that, the other Madrigals crowded into the nursery, Julieta in the lead bringing an entire pot of tea while Pepa carried the tea cups. The other two triplets were quick to fuss over their little brother once Pepa put down the teacups.
“Oh, Brunito are you ok!? You were screaming so loudly! And look at the blood on your chin!” Said Pepa as she tried to wipe away the blood with a small damp rag from the fever rag bowl. Bruno’s fever had been getting a little lower since yesterday so he didn’t need the rags quite as often as he had when he had first fully woken up. Julieta meanwhile was pouring tea and blowing on it before presenting it to Bruno.
“This is a very soothing medicinal tea I made. You need to drink it to stop the bleeding before you vomit whatever blood you already swallowed all back up. Carefully, please Brunito!”
Bruno accepted the tea cup with slightly shaky hands. The warmth of the cup and the soothing steam from the nice-smelling tea was already easing Bruno’s nerves a bit. Bruno was starting to develop quite a fondness for soups and hot drinks because of how warm they made him feel. It was so opposite from the coldness of his space in the walls or the cold leftovers Casita had been allowed by Heraldo to steal for him. Just feeling the warmth of hot liquids in his belly was enough to calm Bruno down and help prevent a major panic attack sometimes. Therefore, Bruno was quite eager to drink Julieta’s tea.
As Bruno drank the healing tea and repaired his torn-up throat, Camilo helped pass out teacups to literally everyone else, knowing that they would all need help calming down after hearing Bruno’s screams. As Alma would not let go of Bruno even to let him drink, which Bruno actually didn’t mind, Mirabel set out giving the rest of the family a short explanation of the night’s events.
“Tío Bruno is safe you guys. He just had a REALLY bad nightmare about a certain mist monster showing up in his bedroom. And I don’t mean here, I mean his magical bedroom. Tío is afraid to go back to it because that’s where he meet the monster that took him for the first time.” Antonio immediately got teary-eyed again. He had already been crying from the sound of Bruno’s screams that woke everyone.
“Tío is scared that the bad guy will be in his room? But why!? The bad guy is gone!” Mirabel hugged her little Primo comfortingly.
“I know hombrecito, but brains are weird like that sometimes. When something really scary happens, a person’s brain can have difficulty dealing with the memories of that scary thing, and sometimes it causes frustrating side effects like Tío’s nightmares and Panic attacks. It can also mess around with something called your sense of awareness, so sometimes remembering the scary things really strongly can make the person remembering them confused about where they are and what’s going on around them.
And Tío’s been through a whole lot of that scary stuff, so Tío Bruno’s brain needs help remembering that the source of all the scary stuff can’t hurt him or us anymore. He may have to deal with that feeling for a very VERY long time, but as time passes, and as long as we remember to support him as he heals, there’s a super duper good chance that it’ll be easier for Tío to handle as time goes on. Showing him our love can help Tío know that we’re here to help him feel better when he’s scared or confused instead of trying to deal with it all by himself.” Antonio nodded in understanding and Mirabel smiled at him proudly.
Not too many people realized Bruno’s intelligence and vision memory was actually sharp as a tack. While conversing through sign the other day, Bruno explained to Mirabel about a future concept he once Saw symptom and treatment examples of called Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. He explained that over the years he had had quite a few visions of healers and scientists who specifically studied and treated disorders of the mind discussing and treating this condition among others that were also noted. Bruno then went on to explain that over his years in the walls, he had started noticing he was exhibiting the same signs of the disorder known in short-hand as PTSD.
At the time, Bruno was worried everyone would think he was crazy after leaving the walls, so he warned Mirabel about it so she would know what to say when she inevitably spoke up on his behalf. Bruno knew his niece well enough to know that she would definitely defend his sanity at some point to somebody if he had survived his time in the walls. Bruno’s efforts had clearly not been in vain, because Mirabel had just successfully explained a little bit about PTSD to Antonio. Now the five-year-old technically understood why Bruno was having the problems he was having and that Bruno would continue to have them for years to come. But the most important part was that Antonio understood that supporting Bruno was the best way to help Bruno handle his problems in a healthy way.
“I promise I’ll do my best to help Tío Bruno feel better if he gets scared!” Mirabel’s nodded at the little boy.
“That’s great buddy, but you also gotta remember that if Tío acts super scared like that, he may get more scared and confused if you touch him unexpectedly. So if you ever notice Tío Bruno is panicking, or if he’s having what looks like a nightmare, even if he seems wide awake, or if he’s spacing out and breathing really weirdly, remember not to touch him unless he asks you for a hug first and to always come to get an adult Tío trusts, ok?” Antonio nodded his head several times.
“Ok, Mirabel! I will!” Mirabel smiled again at her younger Primo now that he knew not to go trying to touch Bruno without permission while he was having dissociative episodes, flashbacks, and panic attacks. Bruno once told her that sufferers of these mental illness symptoms can accidentally lash out at people when that happens sometimes. It was agreed that they had to teach people how to prevent that as soon as possible.
Mirabel looked around the room to see that everyone had been paying close attention while she was talking, especially her grandmother, who was tilting her head in curiosity.
“How do you know all of that Mirabel?” Mirabel was all too happy to explain.
“Tío Bruno explained it to me. Apparently, he used to have visions about this kind of mind-related stuff. There are all kinds of things that can make people’s brains act differently than others, and Tío’s trauma is an example of a reason why it can happen sometimes. It doesn’t mean that people with mental health problems are crazy. It just means it can be harder for them to keep up with their normal lives because they have extra challenges on top of that. But not all hope is lost for them! They’re starting to train people in the outside world called “Psychologists” and “Therapists” whose jobs are gonna be to help people with mental health difficulties to find healthy ways of treating their symptoms and work towards making peace with themselves. Tío said they can help with things like anxiety too, which a lot of us actually have, not just Tío Bruno. If a psychologist or a therapist ever finds Encanto, we should all think about talking with them. It could help us to feel better, especially Tío Bruno.”
Bruno nodded in agreement with Mirabel, now appearing more calm as the hot tea worked its way through his system and made him feel warm and relaxed from the inside out.
“I think I would try that if I could” stated Pepa, who was untangling Bruno’s hair. Several more Madrigals agreed with her and also started drinking their tea.
Soon enough everyone was feeling better since Bruno seemed to be recovering from the nightmare. The only challenge now was how to get Bruno to go back to sleep. However, since the sun was rising, Bruno made an entirely different proposal.
“It’s too close to morning for me to sleep again. I have a little too much energy right now. I… would like to try sitting with you all at the table for breakfast today… please.”
Julieta was merely the first of the many worried Madrigals to express concern over this since Bruno was still sick, but Bruno was firm in his position.
“I’ll go back to bed afterward if I absolutely must. But it’s been days since I left the walls and I still have yet to actually go OUTSIDE, not even to get some sun in the courtyard. I know I’m not ready to go to the village, but I think being out of the nursery for a little while might help me a lot.” The final decision wound up falling to Alma, who seemed to agree with her son and expressed as much to her family.
“I suppose eating breakfast outside together with Bruno would be good.” Julieta was once again worried.
“Mamá, you look like you were up all night again, are you sure-“ But Alma cut her off with a shake of her head.
“I’ll be fine Mija. I can always take a nap with your hermanito after breakfast. We are nowhere near ready to return to anything resembling a full work schedule, though this time there will BE an actual schedule with at least one or two required breaks for everyone each day in addition to lunch, AND days off both for special occasions and family time. Mirabel has been helping me figure it out. Though all of you will be required to approve your new schedules, and Mirabel’s and Camilo’s will need to be approved by their parents since they are still in school. Antonio will not be working yet, so he won’t be getting a schedule yet. I leave it up to Pepa and Felix how old Antonio must be before he can request one.
We will also be setting new ground rules for the village about on what, how, and when they are allowed to request help. Your gifts belong to YOU, not to anyone else. AND we will be telling the village we reserve the right to say no to any non-emergency requests, ESPECIALLY Luisa and Bruno! In fact, there will be no more requirements for ANY of you that using your gifts absolutely must be your primary work method. If a villager tries to force or pressure you into using your gift for any reason, another family member will come to help. And Luisa? Do NOT gather those donkeys unless you actually want to! I WILL be making their owner repair and reinforce his enclosure!
Dolores, you are not required to listen for anything except for people who may be in danger, people who may be a danger to others, missing or endangered children, and anything specifically connected to the well-being of the family such as anyone being overworked or if your Tío Bruno’s health and safety is in jeopardy for example. If anyone asks you for private information on another person, you reserve the right to tell them you aren’t listening for that or have chosen not to tell them.
If any of you find a different type of job to do that genuinely interests you but does not necessarily need your gift to do, you will be allowed to pursue it. And all of you are allowed to explore new hobbies to fill your free time.” The family looked amazed and excited at Alma’s words. Bruno for his part felt so relieved and happy. From now on giving a vision would be HIS choice alone. There would be no more rumors and misinterpretations over his prophesies because now he didn’t NEED to give any anymore if he chose not to. Bruno couldn’t help smiling and signing his mother a thank you. Alma happily smiled back at him.
Half an hour later, Pepa and Alma were personally escorting a still slightly shaky and quite nervous Bruno, arm in arm with him on either side, to the breakfast table, which Luisa had set outside so the family could eat outside while watching the sunrise. Bruno couldn’t help but gasp as he stepped outside of Casita for the first time in 10 years. The table was set, and everyone in the family was at the table waiting for him to arrive. Alma and Pepa placed Bruno in a chair in between both of his sisters, and Alma even pulled out and pushed Bruno’s chair in for him, kissing his head as she did so. And then Julieta brought him his food. Bruno couldn’t help but gasp because… that was his plate. HIS plate! Bruno’s eyes flooded with happy tears as Julieta placed his plate gently in front of him.
“We’re so glad you’re here hermanito. I was so excited, I actually cleaned your plate TWICE! Now make sure to eat as much of that avocado as you can ok? It’s got lots of vitamins and you need as many of those as you can get to help speed up your recovery!” Bruno could only nod at her with a huge watery smile on his face. Julieta then sat down. Pepa and Julieta held Bruno’s hands while the family said grace.
From the very first bite of his first family meal outside in ten years Bruno was resisting giving in to the urge to ugly cry. It was all so overwhelming but also so wonderful. Though he was far from the only person with wet eyes. The whole table was fighting back happy tears. Heck, even Casita had water threatening to spill out of her gutters! But the food was fresh and the coffee and tea were hot, and Bruno wasn’t going to waste a single moment.
Bruno ate as much as he could (which wasn’t enough in Julieta’s opinion but she knew she had to be careful not to make him sick since Bruno’s stomach could only handle so much). It was all delicious and when the meal was done, finally feeling tired, he convinced his family to let him set up in a hammock in the courtyard in the early morning sun for a nap. Little Antonio decided to keep him company. It was the best nap Bruno had had in years.
———
One day later, Mirabel and Antonio on his Jaguar were holding hands with Bruno as the family lead the slowly recovering seer to his old bedroom door, which was now glowing with a shortened staircase in front of it. His room was finished now, and everyone thought Bruno deserved to rest in his own space. Bruno would have been too scared to go near it, but his family was laying heaps of encouragement and reassurance on him.
“You can do It Tío!”
“We’ll be right at your side Mijo.”
“We checked as much of your room as we could hermanito, TWICE!”
“And Antonio and I will hold onto you so you know you’re not alone.”
Bruno was still really nervous, but actually seeing everyone there? Feeling them holding his hands and patting his back? That gave Bruno courage. Having his family back made Bruno feel like he could conquer the whole world. With a brave smile on his face, Bruno finally opened his door.
And when he saw his sand-free rug-covered floors, the decorations and furniture, the fairy lights and bioluminescent plants, and the rat playground climbing from the wall and hanging from the ceiling? That made Bruno feel truly loved.
Sleeping in his new big, warm, and soft bed that night, his sisters having a sleepover on each side of him, Bruno didn’t have a single bad dream. He felt safe here.