Stray AU | Cracks In The Foundations | P2
Abuela knew her methods were harsh but she knew Agustín was the wrong person for her daughter, even if they produced a wonderful daughter with a magnificent gift, the risk the man posed to not only himself but his daughters were heavily outweighed. She could see it in every step he took and ever the reminder how unsuited he was in her family; they had to be perfect. Had to be the support of their Encanto because from the moment it was founded, they had looked to her for strength.
Abuela couldn’t afford the toppling of that by a man who could barely walk flat ground without tripping. His interference on how Isabela used her gift; her flowers were stunning; she didn’t need to create the hideous cactus that literally only caused pain when tripped into one. Luisa had also hurt herself on it as well, so Flowers were the best option for her nieta to make, safe and beautiful.
Agustín needed to stop with trying for more, not to mention, she knew he had his dependence on Julieta’s gift. She wasn’t blind, of course, she knew they loved each other but Julieta didn’t seem to realise that Agustín must have married her with a deeper motive; his accident prone nature gave him mostly self-inflicted injuries. Injured that required healing.
Injuries that required her gift.
The idea of her daughter being used like that, it infuriated her.
Julieta deserved better.
Of course, she needed Agustín out of the picture so their family could once again be the proud family; she had heard the whispers so it was easy to know what image Agustín was bringing to them. It brought her no pride and more shame to know how to do it, she knew Pedro would certainly disagree but he wasn’t here. Pedro was gone.
Was she willing to hurt her daughter to get her way? Yes, because Julieta would heal from his absence. Agustín wasn’t going to be lost to a blade. She knew that wasn’t a line she was willing to cross. She’d not taint her husband’s sacrifice with Agustín’s death. He wasn’t that bad.
Husbands leave their wives easily.
Cheats, familiar responsibility fears and familia squabbles break married couples.
Agustín wasn’t a cheat, which that much she knew. Wearing him down was harder than she initially thought but she felt she had installed some subconscious doubts to both Julieta and Agustín by now.
Why couldn’t have he left more of his own free will to her demands than be stubborn about it, Abuela didn’t know. There was plenty of other women that’d be happy to have the guy, it wasn’t like he wasn’t a catch aside from his dangerous tendencies; he could still have a happy life. Just not with her daughter.
Abuela knew she had to plan carefully to get to him alone to persuade him away. But it was near impossible for weeks; he always had someone and she knew she couldn’t spout her ultimatum with an audience. So, she forced herself to wait. It gave her time to review and change a few routines to get the cards to fall into place.
Getting Dolores out of Casita and to the far end of town; people were busy in the quarry more than usual with more houses that needed to be built; the noise would be loud. She had to hope the noise would be distracting. Pepa in the fields, Felix helped with the carpenters. Isabela was of course with her mother in town and Bruno, he was in his tower, typically but she knew he’d be out to collect lunch and slink back; she didn’t have to worry about him.
Abuela sucked in a heavy breath as she returned back to casita, thumb rubbing soft circles at her locket with anxiety she hadn’t felt in a while. But now, she felt it was time. Everything was in motion.
Stepping in, she heard the movement from the kitchen, Luisa’s voice echoing with little giggles.
“Casita, distract Luisa.”
Casita’s titles wiggled with full disapproval but obeyed nonetheless before she heard the sound of little feet pattering against the floor and the near-three year old patter after the ripple of tiles with joy; a toy being bounced around.
Her back straightened, forcing her chin up before she marched into the kitchen. Her eyes scanned around and it didn’t take long to see the walking disaster wiping down the kitchen sides; he hadn’t even noticed his daughter walk off!
That only validated her stance on the matter.
Agustín turned before he realised she was there, yelping out and unsurprisingly, fell over onto his ass.
“Ow.” He groaned but picked himself up quickly, cheeks and neck flushing and posture turning stiff. “Abuela, I’m surprised you’re back so early.”
His tone suggested otherwise but Abuela didn’t over think on that. Abuela turned, fishing out one of the spare Aprea’s Julieta had at the ready in one of the cupboards and handed it over to him calmly.
Agustín eyed her carefully before his gaze flickered around before he frowned and then called out, “Luisa?”
“Playing with Casita.” Abuela spoke sharply, “if you has any spatial awareness, you would have noticed your child’s absence immediately.”
Agustín’s jaw stiffened, eyes narrowing behind those glasses. “What do you want? Aside from criticising me again. I know how to look after my child, I do not need constant supervision.”
“Given your proclivity for injuring not only yourself and your children, I don’t believe that I can tolerate such behaviour under my roof any longer.”
That snapped his attention back to her sharply from looking for his daughter still.
“What?” his brow pulled his, straightening up.
“You heard me.” Abuela inhaled deeply, “I’ve made it no secret but yet Julieta still chose to carry you despite that. I hoped she’d come to her senses but clearly I have to step in before you ruin anything else.”
Agustín ogled at her for a moment before he blinked and shook his head and seemly returning from where his mind had drifted off to. “Ruin? I haven’t ruined anything. I love your daughter, I don’t intend to go anywhere. I married her because I love her and we have two beautiful daughters. I intend to raise them.”
“No.” Abuela interrupted, “I don’t doubt that you love Julieta or your daughters but do you honestly think she deserves to be with a man that is a risk to not only himself but her daughters. I saw the injuries little Luisa has… A man that does that to his children is not a good father.”
Was she hitting low, yes but necessary, they had to think what was best for them.
Abuela expected him to back down with some argument but instead fury seeped into his expression, his hands gripping the countertop to the point his knuckles turned white and Casita’s tiles shifting underneath.
“How dare you…” He seethed, “I am a good father and a good husband. You dare use my clumsiness against me?!”
“I have every reason to do so, Agustín. You could have hurt Luisa far worse than scrapes, I’ve counted many times where you almost dropped her and she would not have been fine.”
“Oh will you stop with that excuse!” Agustín snapped, “It doesn’t change my position here! I have every right to hold my children. I do everything in my power to keep them safe, even if I do trip; my concern is only for them.”
“Yet it’s not enough!” Abuela spoke back harshly, glaring him down, “You will hurt them, sooner or later and there’s only so much Julieta’s food can fix. You’re not thinking of them. It’s selfish to think that it’s simple looking where you walk.”
“I am not selfish.”
“Then walk away.” She pressed, sizing that opening, “Leaving is their best option to keep the family safe, for your children’s sake and to keeping the family image stable. The town relies on us and you’re rocking the foundations.”
“I am not leaving just because you tell me to.” He snapped, trying to take a few calming breaths. “The basis you’re demands are complete bull shit.”
“Are they? Need I remind you of two weeks ago? I asked about at the neighbours, you were seen tripping with Luisa in your arms. Do you have any idea of how that makes the family is seen in Encanto. We cannot be seen as weak. Do you have any idea how hard it is to keep this town stable when they need us?”
“I don’t care about the town. I care about my family. I can’t—I won’t leave them.”
Abuela inhaled deeply at hi pure stubbornness. But she didn’t think of this ultimatum without reason. “Agustín, I’m not giving you a choice.”
Agustín scoffed. “Oh please, like Julieta would let you kick me out of the house, Abuela.”
“No, because you’ll be walking out of that door under your own steam. You won’t be telling her either.” Her tone remained light but she knew the threat was very clear in her voice. He damn well knew she had something up her sleeve and she knew now was time to draw it.
“What?”
“Luisa’s gift ceremony is in two years’ time and I have the magical candle.” Abuela spoke, letting him put the pieces to her implication. The idea of…not giving Luisa her gift wasn’t something she wanted to pull; but it had to be enough to convince him to leave.
“You wouldn’t dare do that…not to her.” Agustín’s anger was gone, replaced quickly with anxiety, his flushed cheeks had lost a few shades.
“Don’t test my patience.” She spoke, “but, there’s also the matter of Isabela too.”
“Leave her out of this. She’s six years old!”
“Who favours her mother’s looks. Not yours.” Abuela knew she was scraping the barrel, the gambit was now up in the air. “The town does love a good gossip. Do you think people haven’t noticed she looks nothing like you?”
Agustín’s eyes widened before his jaw clenched. “You can’t do that…. Not to Julieta!”
“If I have to.” She lied, “because if you cared about what other people think of your wife, you’d take this seriously. I don’t enjoy this but I have to think of what’s best for her. For Isabela. For Luisa. That’s not you. It never was.”
Agustín’s weight was now leant heavily up against the counter, face pale and barely in control of his breath.
Abuela stepped back, taking a breath. “I will give you 36 hours to be leave.”
Maybe then she’d see about getting the marriage annulled as soon as Julieta was emotionally ready once she knew Agustín wasn’t going to take her back. She was sure Agustín would find a place at the furthest point in Encanto to settle; play his part well as the absent ex; he’d…still get some form of contact with his children; she couldn’t entirely rob him of that but now the family has a chance of standing strong for what was to follow.
Abuela turned and swept from the kitchen, catching little Luisa before she ran in and guided her away with a false smile.
You know i wasn’t originally planning on her POV but...it felt right for the argument. Also, please note how Abuela’s perspective of ‘leaving’ is different to how Agustín understands it. I didn’t want to be as simple as ‘Abuela is a evil and without remorse’ bc i think there’s complexities to how to see this. She used a gambit bluff to get her way; I doubt she planned to truly follow through but Agustín doesn't know that. She doesn’t want to hurt him more than necessary, certainly doesn’t want him dead bc that’s too extreme bc she lost her husband to death too soon; she doesn’t wish that on anyone.
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Do you think Isa and Agustin ever get into fights? Or Luisa and Juleita? I know that step-parents clash with their new kids because of personality or when the parents has a child together…..does Isa see her bio dad or is he like a bad parent?
Since Julieta and Luisa both have more calming personalities and are more inclined to abnegation and dialogue I don’t think they would fight often.
I think that Luisa would have been really possessive with her dad at the beginning , especially since she was pretty young, so she probably had some hard feelings towards her because, you know, she had to share the attention for the first time in her life, but that went away right away as soon as she understood that she didn’t loose a dad but gained a mom.
Growing up I think that Julieta would worry for her mostly due to the fact that she sees much of herself in Luisa, that “work until you’re exhausted” mentality, and doesn’t want that for her, all those responsibilities, so Julieta tried to talk to her many times but she would just shake it off because “it’s not that important” until they had ONE BIG fight, the only real fight they ever had , like, Luisa must have been REALLY stressed to actually fight back, but Julieta knew what buttons she had to press to let Luisa finally let go. Probably a “STOP GIVING ME ORDERS YOU’RE NOT MY MOM” came out of her. Julieta was probably happy that happened tho, after all those years. Luisa just felt guilty for days and cried a lot… Julieta was there to wipe her tears of course.
Isa and Agustín on the other hand.
I think Agustín is a very goofy kind dad but can be very assertive if he wants to . Isa is just a rebel. Not having the pressure to be the perfect family angel she just do whatever she wants. Julieta and her family totally spoiled her growing up, especially after the divorce, so when she was confronted with a steady figure that doesn’t give up to her that easy she goes feral. The fights are a lot, but it’s mostly due to the fact that Isa just doesn’t want to bow down even when she’s wrong. He never raise his voice and tries to stay as calm as possible even if sometimes Isa cuts deep and is very loud . Julieta is terrified every time they start fighting but never interferes with it because she trusts him completely, expect for a couple of times where things were becoming pretty heavy and she had to step in.
Isa’s not easy. Her and Agustín have an amazing deep bond but she still has a lot of issues to solve. Fighting is just one of the few ways she has to comunicate her feelings that are so bottled up into her and don’t have an healthy way to come out of her just yet.
Her relationship with her father is practically non existent. He wasn’t necessary a bad person nor a bad father, he and Julieta tried their best to make things work at first but pretty soon they understood he wasn’t cut out for it and they didn’t love each other that much and fought a lot, like A LOT, Isa only remembers them screaming at each other. (Wondered who she took after? Here you are!) Julieta couldn’t do it anymore and after a REALLY bad fight she took Isa and left. After the divorce he just ended up disappearing eventually.
will he reappear again, who knows
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