I Tried to Scream (But My Head Was Underwater)

by orphan_account

Summary:

Two weeks have passed since Pepa and Agustin returned after being missing for six weeks. Frightened and skittish, the pair's family must help them to heal from the trauma, despite the obstacles that get in their way.

 

This is the second part of In the Wrong Place at The Wrong time, so I would recommend reading it before this so it makes more sense :)

Chapter 1

Pepa screamed as she ran through the boat, slipping on the blood-covered floor and slamming against the wall. She quickly pushed herself up and kept running, screaming again as an axe suddenly flew past her and into the wall, dangerously close to her head. She could hear the captain laughing, the rest of the pirates joining in. Pepa looked behind her to see their dark shadows coming closer and closer as they chased her through the corridor, swords raised. 

Suddenly, Pepa felt herself run into something heavy. Turning around, Pepa let out another blood-curdling scream at the sight of Agustin, hanging by his neck by a bloody rope tied to the ceiling, his eyes wide and bloodshot. 

The redhead pressed her body to the wall as they went around the body, tears spilling from her eyes. Once around it, she continued to sprint, ignoring the stabbing pain in her side. She turned a corner and ran faster at the sight of a door at the end of the corridor. She slammed her body into it, her hand fumbling for the handle. Pushing it open, Pepa screamed as she almost fell into the ocean. She pulled herself back and covered her mouth with her hands as she sobbed. Just below her, her family floated face down, the water stained a dark red. 

Pepa forced herself to look away from the bodies, closing her eyes tightly and falling to the floor, burying her head in her lap. She lay there for a bit, rocking back and forth and sobbing violently. 

Suddenly, a hand wrapped around her neck and lifted her into the air. Pepa choked and wheezed as the captain held her in the air, his face emotionless. He then began moving closer to her body, his hand still squeezing her throat. He moved closer and closer until his body was pressed against hers. His spare hand reached down to his belt, slowly unbuckling it and allowing his trousers to fall down, revealing his privates.

Pepa's eyes widened as she began to struggle, her legs kicking out and her cloud shooting out lightning, striking the captain on the head. But he didn't even flinch. 

The captain reached his hand under her dress, pulling down her bloomers and pants. 

"P-please" Pepa begged, but her voice came out all raspy, barely intelligible. 

The captain smiled for the first time, and began moving his dick into her, causing the redhead to shiver. 

The man leaned forward and whispered something into her ear.

"You got what you deserved, witch"

 

---

 

Pepa screamed as she sat up abruptly, the bed bouncing at the sudden movement. Sweat ran down her forehead in great numbers as she shook violently.

She screamed again as she felt a hand on her back, moving up and down.

"Hey, hey, it's okay, I've got you" Felix whispered, his voice calm and soothing.

Pepa sobbed harder as he wrapped his arms around her, her heart racing. Usually, this would be just the thing she needed during a panic attack, but right now it was the last thing she needed. His touch reminded her too much of Jim and the captain, and the way they used to touch her. 

The redhead fought against her husband, pulling against his arms. Her breathing quickened as the feeling became unbearable, and in a sudden rush of strength, she pulled her arm free and slammed it against Felix's face, flinching at the sound of a sickening crack.

Felix let go immediately, crying out in pain as he clutched his bleeding nose. Pepa crawled to the edge of the bed, her eyes wide with horror. 

She hit him.

She hit Felix.

She hurt Felix.

"Felix!" she cried, wind rushing around her. "I'm so sorry! Please! I'm so sorry!" 

Pepa began sobbing again, burying her face in her hands. She felt something gentle and warm touch her hands, and she peeked through her fingers to see Felix, his eyes full of kindness and concern. "Can I see your face?" he whispered, kissing her hand. 

Hesitating, Pepa brought her hands away from her face. Felix smiled proudly, stroking her hand with his thumb. "There you are, Pepi" he said softly, kissing her hands again. "Was it the same nightmare?"

Pepa nodded hesitantly, a tear slipping down her cheek

"Did I scare you?" he asked, still stroking her hand.

Pepa nodded again, looking down at the floor in shame. She couldn't believe that she was scared of Felix, let alone hurt him like that. She felt awful. 

"I'm so sorry amor" he whispered. The redhead's eyes widened. Why was he apologizing? "I should've thought about what you've been through before I did that. Lo siento, mi vida"

 

Pepa let out a sob. "I'm sorry"

"Hey," Felix whispered, "You have nothing to be sorry for"

"But I hurt you-"

"Nothing an arepa can't fix" he chuckled, and kissed her hand again. Pepa whimpered and wrapped her hands around his arm, burying her face into it. Felix smiled, lying down so then his wife could use it as a pillow. 

"Lo siento" she whispered, before drifting off to sleep.

Felix sighed sadly, leaning over to plant a soft kiss on her forehead before nestling down beside her, his arm still in her grasp.

It had been two weeks since Pepa and Agustin had returned after being missing for six weeks. Upon their arrival, they had been severely beaten, with dried blood all over their bodies. It had been a horrific sight, but the family presumed everything would be alright now that they were home.

They were wrong.

Pepa was having nightmares almost every night, screaming as she woke from the dream. This hadn't been the first time Felix had been hurt by her. 

Agustin wasn't doing much better, not daring to even glance at the piano for the first week or so. He had gone missing for a few hours a few days after their return due to an incident with that piano, and the family was still struggling to find out what exactly triggered his panic. Luisa had removed it a few days after the incident.

The family was at loss, their attempts at healing the pair failing miserably.

Felix didn't sleep that night.

 

 

---

 

Agustin lay awake in his bed, curled into a tight ball as he chewed his nails. His head rested on Julieta's chest, listening to the sound of her heartbeat. It never sped up or slowed down, remaining consistent, no surprises. Agustin liked that.

He hadn't slept at all that night. Every time he closed his eyes, he was back on that ship, wrestling against the pirates as they forced him inside that piano. It was unbearable. 

Suddenly, something slammed into their door, and Agustin yelped, suddenly sitting upright and falling off the bed in the process. Julieta woke immediately, bending over the edge of their bed and helping her shaking husband back onto the mattress. 

Agustin whimpered, his eyes wide with fright. Julieta brushed his fringe from his eyes, planting a kiss on his forehead. "I love you" she whispered, stroking his face. The taller man leant into her touch, relaxing, but only slightly. He was never off guard these days. 

"I'll be right back," the brunette said softly, climbing off the bed and towards the door. Opening it, she was met with an excited-looking Mirabel. "Morning mama! Abuela made breakfast! You and Papi ready to come downstairs?"

"Mirabel!" Julieta said in a hushed tone. "How many times must I tell you not to bang on the door in the mornings? You know how much it frightens your father"

Mirabel went pink, looking down at her shoes in shame. "Lo siento mama, I forgot"

The elder sighed, reaching up to cup her daughter's cheek. "It's okay, mija. I know you were just trying to help. Out of interest, did you happen to do the same to your tia's door?"

Mirabel bit her lip. "Ay, dios mios. She probably didn't react well to that" Julieta sighed. She placed another kiss on her head, before straitening up again. "You go down to breakfast and I'll be down soon, si?"

"Okay. Te amo, mama"

"Te amo"

Julieta closed the door before turning back to her husband, who sat with his legs crossed, face unreadable on the side of the bed. 

"Amor, are you alright?" the brunette asked, carefully sitting beside him. Agustin paused before nodding, his hands fidgeting in his lap. 

Julieta reached over and rubbed circles on his back in an attempt to soothe him, but instead, he recoiled, whimpering like an injured animal. She sighed sadly. Sometimes she forgot what he'd been through.

Agustin paused again, before responding. "Will you be there too?"

The brunette smiled, taking his hand in hers. "Of course. I'll be there the entire time"

The taller man sucked in a breath, and turned to his wife, offering her a small smile. "Okay"

Chapter 2

Pepa held her breath as she slowly sat down at the table, smoothing out her skirt and adjusting her shawl to hide her right arm. Turning to the side, she watched as Felix bit into an arepa, his nose snapping back into its original position. 
 

The redhead hastily turned back to her plate, biting her lip. She still felt terrible for hurting him. Especially as this was the eighth time this had happened. While she knew he was trying to make her feel better, the feeling of hands around her made her shiver. 

 

Suddenly, warm hands were placed on her shoulders and Pepa squeaked as she turned around, but then sighed in relief. Julieta smiled warmly at her younger sister, kissing her forehead and sitting next to her. Pepa smiled back, visibly relaxing. 

 

Julieta was one of the only people whom Pepa felt comfortable being touched by. Unfortunately, as much as she hated it, Felix was not one of those people.

 

Someone patted her shoulder as they passed her chair, and Agustin appeared behind Julieta, smiling at his sister-in-law as he sat down for breakfast. Like Julieta, Agustin was one of the few people that could touch her without being attacked. The only others were her mother, Isabela, Dolores, and Antonio. Everyone else knew to only show affection from a distance. Looking closely at the taller man, Pepa noted that his eyes were red and puffy. He must have been crying. 

 

Abuela entered the dining room, a fake smile plastered on her face as she opened up her arms. "Buenas dias, mi familia, and gracias, Julieta, for this wonderful meal you've prepared for us." 

 

Julieta smiled and sat up a little straighter, clearly liking the attention she was getting. People didn't often thank her for her food.

 

"Pepa, Agustin," Alma continued, nodding at them. "I'm glad you've both decided to join us. I understand how hard this must be for both of you, considering, you know, the circumstances."

 

"Gracias mama," Pepa said quickly, not liking the way everyone was staring at her. It brought back too many painful memories. Alma smiled at her daughter as she sat down, picking up a knife and fork and taking a bite out of her food, a way of telling the rest of the family to begin eating.

 

Pepa followed suit, carefully cutting up her food and placing it into her mouth. The food tasted dry and sour in her mouth, which was unusual as she normally loved her sister's cooking. However, in these past couple of weeks, she couldn't bring herself to finish even a single meal. Sighing, she began to put the knife and fork, but then suddenly a lemur rushed by her plate, causing her to yelp in surprise and the knife slid across her skin, drawing blood.

 

"Ay, hermanita, are you okay?" Julieta cried, taking her sister's hand in her own and inspecting the injury. "Here," she said, handing Pepa an arepa.

 

The redhead shook her head and pushed the pastry away. "Gracias, but I'm not hungry. I'll go put a plaster on it," she said, getting up and leaving the room, feeling the eyes of her family follow her.

 

Pepa slowly made her way up the stairs and into the bathroom. She huffed as she leant forward on her hands, staring at herself in the mirror. Her eyes were blank and cloudy, with dark circles around them. Her hair was a mess, loose strands sticking up from all sides. The scar on her eye was still there, the only part of her face with colour. She slowly reached her hand up to it, and then suddenly she wasn't in the bathroom, but back in the cell. 

 

Blood stained the walls and dripped to the floor. Screams could be heard from the corridors, desperate and blood-curdling. Pepa ran up to the bars, shaking them and screaming for her family. "Felix! Julieta! Agustin! Please! Help me!" 

 

She slammed her body into the bars, but then cried out in pain at the impact and dropped to the ground. She heard someone come into the room, each step causing the floorboards to creak under the weight.

 

Pepa forced herself to look up, and whimpered at the sight of the captain, eyes gleaming. "Hello, witch"

 

"Please" she whispered, slowly crawling through the blood in a desperate attempt to get away from him. The Captain didn't look away from her as he unlocked the cell door, stepping through and into the cell. 

 

"You thought you could escape me?" he slurred, licking his lips. 

 

"Please" Pepa whimpered again, backing into the corner.

 

"You, will never escape me" the captain continued, bending down to her level.

 

"You, will pay for what you've done," he said, holding her chin up and bringing her to eye level.

 

"I'm coming for you" 

 

---

 

Julieta and Felix sprinted up the stairs, heading straight for the bathroom. They'd left the table as soon as they heard the thunder.

 

Felix slammed the door open, only to be pushed aside by Julieta who ran straight to her sister, who was lying in the corner of the bathroom, just under the sink, curled in a ball and practically vibrating with fear. 

 

The brunette whispered words of comfort to her sister as she practically scooped her onto her lap. Pepa sobbed and clung to Julieta's dress, who kissed her face and stroked her hair. 

 

Instinctively, Felix began to approach, about to take Pepa in his arms, until Julieta gave him a warning look, shaking her head. She didn't want to make her sister any more upset than she already was.

 

Felix felt tears rush to his eyes, his heart practically breaking. His presence was hurting his wife, his love, his everything. He quickly turned away and rushed out of the room, whipping away the tears that streamed down his cheeks. He felt like a young child struggling to understand what they'd done wrong, why they were being treated like a burden.

 

He rushed into his room and slammed the door behind him, mentally apologizing to Dolores. He sat on the bed and rubbed his temple. This had never happened before. He was confused. Normally, he would be the first person people thought of when it came to calming Pepa. Not once had he ever been told he was making things worse. 

 

Felix thought about this morning, going over what happened. Pepa was upset, so he went to comfort her. She struggled slightly, but it wasn't as if that'd never happened before. She then broke loose and hit him, and then apologized.

 

Felix huffed. He felt like he had the answer in front of him, but he just couldn't connect the dots. Felix deflated. He was never very good at puzzles.

 

But he knew someone who was.

 

There hadn't ever been a single puzzle that Agustin Rojas couldn't solve. Felix knew this wasn't exactly a literal puzzle, but he had been with Pepa during their time away, so he had to know what was wrong with her. 

 

He would help her again.

 

---

 

It had been a few hours since Pepa's panic attack, and the family had moved on. Julieta had taken her to her and Agustin's room, as Felix had conveniently decided to have his own meltdown in the closest room to the bathroom.

 

Julieta knew she'd been too harsh earlier. To be fair, she'd been rude to him ever since she and Pepa made up a few days after their return, but he was just constantly in the way, making things worse. Deep down, she knew he was just trying to help and was just simply doing what he usually did, but that didn't take away the fact that it was immensely infuriating. Every time she thought Pepa was improving, Felix just had to come and upset her. Julieta knew he would never deliberately try and upset her, but he just couldn't get the hint and understand that him showering her with physical affection just wasn't what she needed right now.

 

The brunette sighed, brushing away the thought, and kissed Pepa's forehead, who was lying beside her, curled into a ball. Julieta smiled at the sound of Pepa sucking gently on her thumb, a habit she'd picked up as a child.

 

Julieta smiled as she laid her head on her sister's chest, closing her eyes.

 

Suddenly, light flooded into the room and Julieta's eyes snapped open, gleaming with anger. Ay, if it was Felix-

 

"Amor?"

 

Julieta's eyes softened at the sight of her husband standing at the doorway. She then remembered that she'd left him at breakfast.

 

"Ay, mi amor, I'm so sorry for leaving you. Pepa was having a panic attack and I-"

 

"It's okay, amor," Agustin said, smiling warmly. "And besides, that's not why I'm here. Alma wants to talk with you"

 

Julieta sighed. She'd really been enjoying her time with Pepa. "I'll be right down," she said, getting up and gently kissing her husband, who melted into the kiss. Their lips parted, and Julieta smiled. "Te amo" she whispered.

 

"Yo también te amo" Agustin replied, and Julieta hurried down the stairs. Agustin turned to Pepa, who lay asleep on the bed. He couldn't help but wonder what triggered her panic. He turned to leave the room, but just as he began closing the door, a small voice came from inside. Turning around, his eyes softened at the sight of his sister-in-law sitting up, eyes glistening with sadness.

 

"Hey," he said, coming over and sitting on the bed. "How are you feeling?"

 

"He's coming," she said, looking at him fearfully.

 

Agustin was speechless, his mouth opening and closing like a fish. "Wha-a-a-a" he eventually managed to say. His heart was beating wildly.

 

"The captain" she continued, her voice in a hushed whisper "I saw him. He's going to kill us" she began to cry, tears streaming down her cheeks. 

 

"H-how? He's dead! I saw him die!" Agustin cried, trying to make sense of this. He couldn't be alive. He just couldn't be.

 

"He's alive," she said. "I don't know how, but he's alive, and he's coming for us"

 

"How do you know what you saw was real?"

 

"It had to be. It felt too real to be a dream"

 

Agustin couldn't breathe.

no

no

no

no

please no

 

"What do we do?" he whispered.

 

"I don't know"

 

 

Chapter 3

-Several weeks ago-

 

 

The Captain smiled as his sword slipped through the witch's flesh. She let out a small whimper as he drew the blade back out, and the captain dropped to the ground.

 

He closed his eyes as he felt his heart weaken, but he couldn't help but continue to smirk at the sound of his captor's cries. At least he would die knowing he'd rid the world of that redheaded demon. 

 

For the next 10 minutes, the captain felt himself slowly slip away, but then, right as his heart was about to give in, he heard a deep, powerful rumble of thunder, followed by thousands of droplets of rain. They all suddenly froze in place, before swarming toward the witch, who lay dead in the other prisoner's arms, and into her chest. As each droplet hit her, they glowed briefly before disappearing into the wound. 

 

They were healing her

 

No

 

There was no way the captain was going if she wasn't going down with him. Using the remainder of his strength, the one-legged man began crawling towards them, the metallic taste of blood lingering in his mouth. Grunting, he slowly managed to reach his hand far enough for one of the glowing raindrops to hit his palm.

 

The captain had never felt something so beautiful. It was as if all the darkness of the world was suddenly pushed out of him in this one rush of light. The darkness didn't leave for long. As he felt his strength returning, so did his anger, his fury, his hatred. 

 

He slowly lifted his head, making sure he wouldn't be spotted by his prisoner who sat just a few meters from him. The captain felt his blood boil.

 

The two were hugging, laughing, smiling. He could barely remember a time when he did those things. It was a sickening thought. Scanning the area, he quietly reached for his sword, which he returned to his belt. He slowly rose onto his hands and knees and began crawling away from them, taking care with every step. He was in no fit state to fight, and they would surely kill him if they caught him. While he was certain he could defeat the man, there was no way he would ever match the power of the witch. No. For now, he would have to lay low until they reached land.

 

But he knew one thing for sure;

 

No matter how hard it seemed, he will kill them, one way or another.

 

 

---

 

-Present day-

 

 

Felix groaned as he slowly sat up, rubbing sleep from his eyes and adjusting to the morning light. The night before, Julieta had asked him to sleep on the couch until Pepa felt ready to sleep with someone again. More like commanded him. Felix had noticed his sister-in-law's attitude towards him in the subtle glares she often gave him whenever he went anyway near his wife. It took every ounce of strength to glare back. She was Pepa's sister after all. If Pepa ever saw him glaring at her it was inevitable that he'd be struck with lightning, husband or not.

 

Felix put on his slippers before folding away the thin blanket he'd been using and made his way into the kitchen to make himself a morning coffee. Unlike his wife, Felix was known to be an early riser, waking religiously at the crack of dawn. As did Julieta, which was not ideal. 

 

"Morning," he said as he rinsed his cup, not sparing a glance at his sister-in-law who sat on the counter, sipping at her own coffee. She didn't reply.

 

After another minute, Felix made his coffee and Julieta had finished hers, meaning she would start her cooking. Felix made towards the door but stopped in his tracks. "How's Pepa?" he asked, knowing Julieta had stayed with her that night.

 

"She slept well, thanks to you not being there" she answered with a tint of sarcasm.

 

Felix's eyes darkened. "What did I ever do to you?!?"

 

"Excuse me?" clearly she hadn't expected him to retaliate. Good. Now it was his turn to get angry.

 

"You heard me," he said, turning to face her. Julieta's face was red with anger. "What did I do to deserve this?"

 

She scoffed. "Are you kidding me? For the past month all you've been doing is making Pepa worse. Every time she seems to be getting better, you just have to come along and pull her back down! Thank god you're not married to Agustin because he'd be fucking terrified if you were!"

 

"What, so you just don't want me going any near her then?" Felix said, his blood beginning to boil at the audacity. 

 

"Yes! That's exactly what I want!"

 

"She's my wife!"

 

"And she's my sister!"

 

Just as Felix was about to retaliate, the sound of thunder came from behind them. Both Julieta and Felix turned to see Pepa, Agustin, and Bruno standing in the doorway. Bruno looked pissed off.

 

Julieta smiled sweetly, brushing her hands on her apron, something Felix knew she did when she was nervous. "Hola hermanos, amor! What are you doing up this early?"

 

"We were woken up by our *very* noisy neighbours" Bruno said, glaring daggers at his eldest sister and brother-in-law. "Maybe you could tell them to shut up so we can get sleep?" he continued. Looking at Agustin and Pepa's tired faces, he guessed they also had an idea of who these 'neighbours' were.

 

"Right," Julieta said. "Of course" she then went to great Agustin with a kiss, which he easily melted into.

 

"How are you amor?" Felix asked, feeling left out. Pepa smiled warmly, but her puffy eyes told him she'd been crying.

 

"Good, gracias mi sol" she answered, and his heart fluttered. It didn't last long. Julieta went up to her younger sister, kissing her forehead and smiling warmly. "Come, I'll make you a coffee," she said, leading her out of the kitchen, shooting Felix a small glare as she went. 

Felix glared back, knowing what that meant. This wasn't over.

 

 

---

 

Alma smiled as she awoke. Outside, snow still fell in large amounts, covering the Encanto in a thick blanket, but you could see the sun poking through the clouds. Something had made her Pepa happy.

 

She grunted as she got out of bed, taking off her nightgown and putting on her usual magenta dress. She opened the door and began to make her way to the kitchen to help Julieta prepare the meal. Just as she was turning to go down the stairs, she ran straight into Agustin. The taller man yelped, recoiling away from her. His hand hovered above his pocket. She didn't have to be a genius to know he had a knife in there. Alma smiled reassuringly. "Ah, Agustin. Lo siento, I didn't see you there" Alma had never been particularly close with her son-in-law. Not that either of them tried to strengthen their relationship, which she thought was fair considerating the number of times she'd tried to set Julieta up with someone else. She wouldn't have liked her either.

 

"Sorry, it was my fault," he said, his shoulders relaxing. He turned to leave, but Alma called after him. 

 

"How are you, Agustin?" she said, trying not to wince at his eyepatch.

 

"Fine, considering, well, you know" he answered, and Alma's eyes softened. 

 

"I don't think I've ever told you this, but I'm glad Julieta chose you. You make her feel more loved than you realize, and that's all a mother could ever want. And I'm sorry about the way she treated you when you were gone. You didn't deserve that, but I'd like you to know that I'm happy that you're my son."

 

By the time she'd finished, Agustin had tears in his eyes. Alma knew he'd had an unhappy childhood; his mother had died in childbirth and his father was an abusive drunk. Sometimes she found herself comparing herself to his father, wondering if she was much better at parenting than he was. Her answer was usually no.

 

"Gracias, Alma" Agustin said, his voice genuine. He gave her a small bow before turning towards his and Julieta's room, carefully shutting the door behind him.

 

Abuela smiled to herself. Perhaps she really could fix the relationships she broke.

 

 

---

 

Antonio squealed as Parce sped through his room, leaping over other animals and fallen branches. Toucans squawked enthusiastically overhead, flying higher as the jaguar ran through a huge puddle, splashing and soaking an unimpressed-looking capybara that had been sitting nearby. 

 

The cat then began bounding up the tree in the middle of the room, pushing past flowers and causing a flurry of hummingbirds that were feeding from them to spiral into the air, creating a rainbow of colours in the sky.

 

Antonio was delighted by this, calling to his jaguar to speed up, which it readily did. They ran all the way to the top of the tree, where Parce then leapt off one of the branches, and the two of them flew through the air and right into a frog pond. Now off of Parce's back, Antonio lead him out the pond, giggling as the jaguar shook off the water and getting the five-year-old even wetter. Antonio copied him and then went over to the capybara they wet earlier, which was called Chipsi.

 

He giggled as he took off his jumper and began drying her with it. "Lo siento Chipsi. You can keep the jumper though!" Giving the animal a quick hug, he went over to his toucan, Pico, who was being unusually loud. "What's wrong Pico?" 

 

The toucan squawked in response. "You found what?" Antonio exclaimed. "Let me see!" The bird opened its beak, and out dropped a very bloody knife.

 

 

Notes:

Sorry It's been a while! I've been quite busy but I should be able to begin updating normally again soon! (Hopefully).

Not a lot happened in this chapter, but I'm hoping for the next chapters to be more action-packed.

Notes:

Sorry if this was a bit short and slow, the future chapters will have more action and will be longer.

Stormy :)

Series this work belongs to:

• Part 2 of In The Wrong Place at the Wrong Time