There will be real world depictions of war, death, violence, racism, and homophobia. Please be safe with your mental health while reading this. 🤟🏻

If any of these topics trigger you, you can email me at [email protected] and I will send you edited versions to read. 💗

-

Everything was a maddening whirl of scarcely confined chaos and disarray. The house was literally in shambles. Everyone was rushing to and fro as they picked up what they could, calling out to one another over the growing din around them. Together they were trying to work a miracle of their own, and well, things were a mess.

But such was the life of the family Madrigal, and with Dolores' wedding to Mariano only a few days away this mad rush was to be expected.

What wasn't expected was Casita to be throwing a temper tantrum, Mirabel thought irritability as she rushed down stairs towards the kitchen.

The house was looking more ravishing than ever, adorned with an intricate array of green and growing things, yet-to-be-lit lanterns, and bolts of fabric draped across the walls and hanging in low bends from the ceiling. Yet, walls were quaking, the shutters slammed open and closed, and here on the ground floor, the young woman could see the tiles moving beneath the feet of her family, shoving the bride and groom apart as a teary-eyed Dolores covered her ears in an attempt to block out the cacophony.

Oh yeah, Mirabel thought, her expression falling as she watched her family scramble about, things had gotten more than a little out of hand.

Taking a deep breath as she sized up the situation, Mirabel tucked the invitations she'd been working on in her room, her wondrous, fantastical new room, beneath her blouse to protect them. Then, hand raised to shield herself from the hail that had begun battering down on everyone and everything within the vicinity she bolted towards the others. Clearly whatever had happened while she was away had pissed off Tia Pepa in more ways than one, as lightning split the sky, adding the bass of thunder to the tempo of falling ice.

"Alright everyone, what is going on in here?" Mirabel asked, hands on her hips. At the open-ended question, everyone began shouting and stating their case all at once. Casita gave a low rumble from the base of its foundation, jarring Mirabel's bones and rattling the teeth in her skull.

"Uh-huh," the girl groaned, pushing up her glasses as she pinched the bridge of her nose. Playing family peacemaker was new, and a lot more work than she would have anticipated. "Let's try this one at a time. Mariano, we'll start with you, considering-" Mirabel motioned awkwardly to the floor tiles that had taken the shape of jagged points, directed at him with menace.

"I was just saying, maybe Dolores could move into my home after the wedding, so my mamá wouldn't have to be alone." the man said with a slow apprehensive tone, apologies written all over his face.

"He's crazy if he thinks I'm going to let him steal my baby from me!" Pepa shrieked. "Absolutely out of his mind!"

The sky rumbled again as Tio Félix took his wife by the shoulders. No one demanded that she restrain or deny her feelings anymore. As a result Pepa seemed much happier, and healthier for it overall as she explored her emotions, free to feel without repercussions or blame. Still, the man's embrace seemed to calm her nerves, and the storm outside changed from a hazardous natural disaster to a mere potential flash flood as hail transformed into rain.

"Dolores?" Mirabel asked, cocking an eyebrow in her cousin's direction.

"Hm?" she squeaked as though caught off guard, her eyes wide and a little frightened.

"What do you think?" Mirabel asked, trying not to smile as Tio Bruno stood behind the bride-to-be pantomiming knots with an invisible thread before tossing it over Dolores. Tio Bruno froze his gaze conveying his concern that she didn't understand what he was trying to say. Mirabel knew exactly what he was getting at, but after living without it for most of her life, resorting to magic was never her first response.

"Um ... I'm not sure. I need time to think, and I don't want to make anyone mad ... and - " Dolores trailed off, muttering so quietly only she could hear it, her lips moving in a frantic quiver as she looked to Isabela.

The other girl appeared sympathetic but aside from giving her cousin's hand a little squeeze was unable to help.

"You won't make anyone mad no matter what you choose!" Pepa replied, cupping her daughter's face in her hands. "Your father and I will love you no matter what."

"So will I!" Mariano cut in with offense, talking over Félix who had been starting to say something, an arm looped about his wife and daughter each.

There was a crack of thunder, and the shouting began again. Mirabel rolled her eyes, reached into her back pocket, and pulled out a pair of knitting needles. She looked at her family with meaning, and the arguing slowly died down as the four combatants turned to her, with an array of expressions from annoyance to nervousness on their faces.

"I guess you guys are just going to have to talk it out then, and to really break down those barriers. I think you should all understand one another a little bit better." Mirabel shrugged as they all relented to the idea.

Pointing a needle first at Dolores and Mariano, then the other at Tio Félix and Tia Pepa, Mirabel felt something akin to a cool rush of water swelling in her chest before it overflowed, running down each arm, out through her fingers and into the needles. Exhaling a steadying breath as she did Mirabel drew out their bright and colorful heartstrings, each was beautiful and unique. They drifted through the air vivid as a wish, and as light as a prayer towards her. Giving the needles a few skilled twists, the girl knit the four cords of spirit together as they all approached one another to hold hands, eyes closed, as for the first time they paused to see the world through one another's eyes.

"Yes!" Tio Bruno exclaimed loudly, leaping into the air and pumping his fist with excitement. "That's exactly what I was - I mean they really needed that! Now maybe - Good job kid!" he enthused. Mirabel smiled fondly at the man, who was slowly beginning to come to life the more time he spent with the family.

"And you, Casita," Mirabel scolded. "Cousin Dolores can do whatever she likes with her life, besides, it's not as if she won't visit if she does decide to leave. Act your age." The ceiling beams drooped pathetically in response, and the windows trembled with a whimper, but the house seemed resigned, and Casita settled into its foundations once more.

"Oh mi hija, you're getting so good at that!" Julieta gushed, hurrying over to give Mirabel's cheeks a squeeze.

"Mom!" the sixteen-year-old groaned, pulling away.

"I'm just so proud of you!" Julieta went on, refusing to allow her captured prey to escape her that easily.

"We both are!" Augstín added, enveloping her as well. "Just so proud!" Mirabel managed to squirm away, adjusting her disheveled hair and glasses as she did.

"It's not that impressive," Mirabel shrugged, battling conflicting emotions as she pulled out the wholly unnecessary invitations, and placed them on the table. As if anyone in the Encanto would miss a Madrigal wedding, she thought, adding, "It's not instantaneous like the way you heal people, mamá!"

Mirabel had waited, prayed her entire life for a miracle, to be special like everyone else. How could she have known that she'd had a gift all this time when all she could do was experience the emotions and memories of others, as if they were her own?

Where her uncle could look forward, she could only look back, and it was her connection to others that made her strong, no room actually required. Oh, how that fact had made her family overlook her talents for so long. It wasn't until after Casita, rebuilt by hand to include a space for Mirabel, that the Miracle saw fit to bestow upon her, her own room of wonders. It would have been funny if it wasn't so sad, and hadn't hurt for so long.

Now however, and after much practice she'd uncovered this little trick of tying people together. Yet, giving people different perspectives, and giving them the building blocks to start talking to each other felt a little pathetic when compared to the rest of them.

Sometimes she felt that her life would have been better without ever learning what she was capable of.

Abuela reached across the table to take Mirabel's hand. "No, but healing a heart is much more difficult, and takes a lot more time."

But only sometimes.

"Thank you Abuela." Mirabel smiled, giving her grandmother's hand a gentle squeeze, her eyelids fluttering against her welling tears.

Who knew that getting in touch with the rest of her family would bring out so much in her?

"So ... what did I miss?" Camilo smirked, leaning against the door frame.

Mirabel watched as her mom shouted, "What did you miss? What did you miss?!" before snagging the teen who had been absent for much of the morning by the ear and giving it a little twist.

"Ow, ow, ow!" Camilo whined plaintively as Julieta marched them into the room. Quickly Camilo shifted their physical form and the brutalized body part disappeared altogether, leaving Julieta with nothing but air between her fingers. They smirked victoriously at the momentary shock they'd given her before she reached around to grip them just as fiercely by the other ear.

"You have been begging me to let you help bake the cake, for weeks Camilito, and then on the day we're supposed to be in the kitchen, you vanish on me. Where have you been?" the woman demanded answers from her favorite of her sister's children, though she would never admit to having favorites.

The teenager smirked, more trouble than they were worth as they now stood earless, arms crossed and shouted, "Sorry, tia, but I can't hear you."

Mirabel rolled her eyes as she double-checked that the invitations hadn't been ruined. Julieta found herself at the crossroads of anger and humor, wondering what to do with the unruly child when their younger brother spoke up.

"I found him -" Antonio began, quickly silenced by Camilo's hand slapping with a little too much haste over his mouth, making a loud smack as they did.

"I was nowhere Tia, promise, sorry I'm late. Now let's make some magic!" Camilo laughed, mirroring Julieta's appearance, and shimmying her way into the kitchen.

Antonio, who was left rubbing a sore mouth, flashed his favorite cousin a look of anger and mischief, but before Mirabel could stop him, he loudly announced to everyone, "Camilo was with a girl, and they were kissing!"

All eyes turned to the false Julieta, who stared in horror. After a minute the words, "You're dead!" escaped and in a flurry of commotion the siblings tore out of the room.

Heaving an overly exasperated sigh Mirabel turned to her mother and grinned. "Guess I'm on cake duty?"

"It would appear so. Flour, start sifting," Julieta commanded with a wink.

In no time at all, a semblance of order had descended upon the house, work resuming as usual while the bride and groom talked things over with Félix and Pepa in a calmer, more productive way than they had earlier. Mirabel had just been scraping down the sides of the large mixing bowl, when a thieving finger scooped up a hearty portion of batter.

"Mmmm! It's perfect!" Tio Bruno exclaimed savoring the pilfered goods. "I love cake batter, it looks like spackle, but you can actually eat it. Well, I mean technically, I guess you could eat spackle, I mean it wouldn't taste very good but -"

"Tio, please don't tell me you ever tried tasting the spackle," Mirabel leveled him with a practiced gaze, it was her mother's look and she had perfected it well as of late.

"Um ... no," the wiry man said after a confirming hesitation, holding his finger up for the cluster of rats that crawled about him with affection to clean.

"You're crazy," Mirabel declared, ready to make another remark when she saw her uncle staring vacantly at a space on the floor. Pressing her lips into a firm line, she watched for a moment, and wondered where it was that he went so far away from the rest of them during his quiet, somber moments. Whatever he was thinking about, the girl could sense that it made him unbearably sad.

Then, as always, the spell broke, he gave a little, breathy laugh before rattling off something nonsensical and leaving to find a means of occupying his time. Perturbed, Mirabel tried to put her own thoughts on the matter aside, and returned to the work at hand. Still, her concern lingered.

By dinnertime, everyone was well and truly exhausted, but they were happy, and they were together, and really that was all that mattered. Chatting warmly, the topics changed, flowing around the table and filling the atmosphere with a warmth and joy that was infectious. The room took a rowdy turn however, when Félix turned to his middle child with a smile.

"I hear you're in love." he beamed, clearly enjoying the embarrassment he was causing as Camilo cried to the heavens for help. "What's her name?"

"No! Please!" Camilo begged, "It's already bad enough Dolores can hear everything, but now Antonio has all his little animal spies, can't I just have one little secret, private thing that's just for me?" they begged, burying their face into their hands.

"Wow." Isabela mused, her eyes wide.

"I know, who would have thought we were the lucky ones?" Luisa whispered, earning a snicker, as the sisters playfully, and carefully elbowed one another.

Dolores fixed the pair with a look, but it only made their giggles worse. Choosing to ignore them, she addressed her sibling instead. "Yes Camilo, we'll give you privacy. Antonio, you really shouldn't be spying on them." she said, sounding very mature and authoritative, but if Mirabel knew her, which she did, it wouldn't last.

"Thanks, sis, that really means a lot." Camilo said, sitting a little taller they sounded just as surprised as they looked.

"Her name's Catalina." Dolores rattled off without even looking up from her plate.

Camilo was aghast.

"What, I can't control what I overhear. I can't turn it off." Dolores shrugged.

"But you can control what you say!" Camilo bellowed.

"Can I?" she asked with a little shrug. "Hm."

The table rolled with laughter as Felix slapped Camilo on the back in congratulations as they tried to hide their face. Poor Camilo, Mirabel thought, shaking her head as everyone had a chuckle at their expense.

"Say, Tio Bruno, have you ever been in love?" Isabela asked, leaning forward so that she could see him.

"Yeah!" Mirabel said loudly, wondering why she'd never thought to ask before. Much of their newly recovered uncle was still a mystery, one each of his nieces and nephews seemed determined to unravel. "Have you?"

"Who, me?" Bruno asked, pointing to himself in surprise. "No-no-no-no! Never!" he chuckled, waving them all away before he stopped to toy with the food in his bowl. "In love, me? No, not me ..." he muttered.

The conversation moved on steadily, but for Mirabel, the family's empath, something just didn't seem right. The glow had dimmed in her uncle's gaze, and she noticed his appetite had vanished almost altogether after the question had been posed. Even here, sitting at the family dining table, as he had longed to be for so many years, Tio Bruno still seemed so very alone.

After helping to clear away the dishes the girl sought out her reclusive tio, her mind was wracked with questions, questions that needed answers. Mirabel found him, sitting alone beneath the stars, face turned towards the heavens. As she got nearer Mirabel could hear him talking in a low murmur to one of his ratitos, breathing deeply as they enjoyed the cool night air. Hesitant to disturb him she watched from a distance, before making her way towards him.

"Tio Bruno, are you alright?" she asked, easing herself to the ground beside the quiet and contemplative man.

"Me?" he asked, looking past himself, and then back to her, as though he hadn't heard Mirabel say his name. "I'm fine, why wouldn't I be?"

"Well, I don't know. You seemed a little upset at dinner." Mirabel prodded gently, leaning so that she could see his face.

"I'm fine." he maintained, giving her a little smile before turning his gaze back to the dappled sky above them.

He had a small rodent sleeping securely in the palm of one hand, and he stroked it's soft gray fur with the calloused fingers of the other. So, the two found themselves enveloped by the hushed melodies of a breeze, and the gentle night songs of insects. Neither spoke for a long while as Mirabel reasoned out her approach.

"Tio, I am an expert at saying you're fine when you're not," the girl said with a scoff. "You can't lie to me."

"You're right, I mean ... Yes of course you're right. I'm not alright, but you know what it is? I'm tired. Night!" he rambled before standing to rush away, yet again.

The girl caught him by the hem of his ruana, holding him in place, quietly imploring him to give her answers. Something was wrong, and if there was a way that she could fix it, she would.

"I'm just tired, Mirabel, and I want to go to sleep. Let me go." he said, his voice falling an octave as he assumed his commanding 'uncle' tone.

"Tell me." she pushed.

"Mirabel!" Bruno snapped, rare anger flaring to life.

"You were in love once weren't you, Tio Bruno?" she asked softly, watching as the question ekked it's way through his armor. Softening the man assumed the sorrowful vacant stare Mirabel had become familiar with.

"Come on, you know you can't lie to me." she added after a minute.

"Yes." Bruno nodded tearfully.

"Are you still in love?" the girl went on her heart racing with a kind of excitement as the mystery began to unravel.

Swallowing hard past a lump of emotions, the man couldn't look at his niece, turning his back to her he rasped out, "Yes."

"What happened? Who is she?" Mirabel questioned leaping to her feet, racing about to face him.

Wincing as though pained by the questions Bruno whispered, "Mirabel, please, I know you're only trying to help, but I just got my family back ... I can't -" a small air filled sob hissed out from between his teeth as they clenched together. "I can't lose you all again!"

"What? Why would you lose us?" Mirabel asked, finding herself gaping in shock and alarm. "Is she married to someone else?" she pried, her mind working quickly at what few pieces of the puzzle she had been given. "Does her family have a feud against our family? Oh! Is she secretly plotting revenge against us, like in one of your ratito telenovelas? Come on Tio Bruno, you can tell me! Who is she?"

The girl's enthusiasm and curiosity was snuffed out as the man, crying with the practiced silence he had acquired over the years, made terrified, fleeting eye contact with her. The girl felt, immediately as he did. Staggered, and barely able to keep her footing beneath the crush of his emotions. Mirabel's entire body ached with a dull festering pain, the air was stolen from her lungs, her bones became heavy as stone, while fear raced up her spine with a jolt of electricity. Guilt, fear, remorse, and shame made bitter bedfellows in her heart.

"Oh ..." she murmured, feeling, more than knowing where she had gone wrong. Reaching to place a hand on his shoulder, her eyes swimming with tears, Mirabel spoke in a reverenced whisper. "Tio Bruno ... I'm so sorry ... Who was he?"

"Mirabel... I-I can't!" Bruno sobbed, yanking himself away from her touch, his face flushed and burning with shame.

"Please Tio, tell me. I want to hear about him. It's alright," Mirabel urged stepping towards him, refusing to let him go back into hiding, or to that dark, quiet place in his mind that he so often retreated to. "I love you Tio Bruno, and I see how sad and lonely you are, even now, you're a part of the family, but you still keep yourself separated from us! Please just let me in."

Bruno couldn't relent, moving further away from his niece, toying anxiously with the frayed ends of his ruana, he ignored her.

"Just his name?" the girl begged, feeling the power ripple within, as she gripped his shoulder again.

At the touch of her magic a bittersweet smile crossed Bruno's lips, and as it did Mirabel felt the tug, one that pulled her out of herself and into the man's heart, and mind, as she heard him say, "His name was Hernando, and he wasn't afraid of anything ...