Chapter Text
"Abuela."
Alma looks up to see her granddaughter appearing nonchalant upon seeing the mess in front of her. Accompanying the feeling of relief, Abuela looked at her like she just saw a ghost. "You're..you're okay. Where have you been Mirabel?" She stands up to try and hug Mirabel but she hesitates.
When was the last time I've..
Has she really hugged Mirabel before, not even before she didn't get a gift?
Because of this realization, Alma awkwardly hovered her arms around her granddaughter. "May I..?" She asked. Mirabel knew what she was trying to do, before she could reply to her Abuela, she hugged her first. She hadn't had an ounce of affection from her and for over 10 years and Mirabel tries to savor this moment. "I'm sorry, Mirabel." Abuela squeezed her tight, scared she might run off again. She pulled away and tucks a strand of Mirabel's hair behind her ear. "I am so sorry. I thought, that if I protect the miracle, I can keep you safe, that I will not lose you. But I- I have forgotten who I have protected it for that you..and Bruno had left because of me. I am so sorry to you, to your cousins and to your sisters. I never realized that what I was doing was hurting you, that I was setting you aside only because you didn't have a gift."
"That day, I blamed you for not getting a gift but I was so blind..so blind to see that you're hurt from it and I've just deepened the wound. My sweet little Mirabel, you always tried to help and you've done all of that without a gift. Our Mirabel.. is the strongest young woman we have ever seen." Her voice cracks, she is tempted to sob.
Abuela gently holds her granddaughter's cheek, her thump rubbing on it to wipe away Mirabel's tears.
"You are a wonder Mirabel Madrigal, and I should've told you that a long, long time ago, when you didn't get your gift. None of this.. was ever your fault Mirabel, you would never hurt this family. Casita, our family fell..because of me." Abuela finished, managing to show a sad smile.
"To tell you the truth Abuela, I don't..I can't forgive you yet Abuela, it's not just for me but for my older sisters, Dolores..Camilo I can't just forgive and forget it."
Alma looks down and nods understandably to her granddaughter's resolution, still having Mirabel's hands in hers.
"But Abuela, I love you. We all..love you. You were the reason why I'm here, why we're here. I am..still so grateful for that, and I will always be. Casita may be gone, but it's nothing we can't solve together, as a family." Mirabel smiles, kissing her Abuela's hands which were getting cold.
"Together as a family, like how we should've done everything in the beginning." Giving her granddaughter a kiss on the cheek and hugs her tight. "I prayed to your Abuelo Pedro to help me," Abuela whispered into Mirabel's ear.
"He sent me you, our Mirabel."
Mirabel sobs quietly on her grandmother's shoulders.
You are exactly what this family needs.
We hope you're okay prima.
He sent me you.
She felt seen, she felt loved, she felt appreciated for the first time in a while. She thanks her Tío Bruno silently for making her turn around, for making her open her eyes and allowing Abuela to open hers too.
Remembering Tío Bruno, Mirabel pulls away from the hug and calls out to him.
"Hey, you can come out now." Mirabel says. Abuela hears the rustling from the bush on the other side of the river. Someone very familiar stands up.
Wasting no time, Alma rushes to cross the river trembling because of her aching knees. "Brunito?"
"Bruno!" She crosses the river with difficulty. Despite her traumatic past with the river, she crosses it in a hurry to embrace her lost son. "Abuela! Be careful!" Mirabel tried to aid Abuela when Bruno goes out of the bush and runs to his mother. "Mamá! Stay there, your knees are aching again!"Bruno yells and proceeds to get in the river.
Both if them are essentially bathing in Abuelo Pedro's resting place if you'd ask Mirabel.
"Bruno- Bruno! Mamá needs to see you!" Alma cries, still trying to reach him. Bruno hurries to his mother and pulls her in an embrace. For a short moment, Alma goes back to when Bruno was just a little boy who couldn't go anywhere without her.
Mamá Alma's little boy is home again, right in her arms. Her Brunito is home.
"Oh my Bruno, I am so so sorry. Do not leave Mamá again, hm?" Alma says through her sobs, talking to her 50 year old son like how she talked to him 40 years ago. "I'm back Mamá, I'm here now."
Bruno looks around, familiar of the surroundings recognizing it as where his father had passed.
Maybe, his Papá was watching over them after all, seeing as they somehow solved most of their familial matters in the same river Pedro met his demise. It's a nice coincidence, Bruno thinks.
Mirabel smiles softly from behind his mother and Bruno nods a silent 'thank you'.
"Let's go home." Mirabel says.
*****
Camilo was still looking under the rubble, still hopeful his cousin would be here somewhere. His pace has slowed, obviously tired from looking all day and night.
"Camilo, you- you need to rest. You've been all round town all day and now you're here trying to find her here. She's not here." Félix puts his hand on his son's shoulders. "She's not in the Encanto, it's already the next day Papá. She has to be here." Camilo reasons.
If Mirabel isn't home, she must've-
Suddenly, the bells rang and the towns people have started a commotion. "She's back! They've found her! Alma's found her!" Almost immediately, Julieta went back to Casita, awaiting her daughter. Agustín ran as fast- the best he could while being swarmed with bees, Julieta looks at her poor husband and realizing she couldn't heal it without her gift, she could only kiss him on the cheek and look at him apologetically.
Julieta then saw her daughter arriving on the site where Casita used to stand with her grandmother. Their arms were hooked, signaling that it was all better now.
"Mirabel!" She said, running to her with her arms open. Mirabel looks to where she was called and sees her distressed mother running. She responds by doing the same, nearly tackling her 50 year old mother down due to her unprecedented strength. "We were so worried, I haven't found you, no one in town has seen you, your father and I was so worried, dear Isabela was gonna go crazy-" Julieta pants, she couldn't say it all in one breath. "And Luisa started crying, and I got attacked by bees!" Agustín continues where his wife had left off. Both of them had eyes that went red from crying, Julieta's hair was in a mess and Agustín's nose and hands were swollen. "Papá, will you be okay?" Mirabel asks, gently feeling the swollen skin on her father's face. "Of course I'll be okay, I'm just happy you're here." He replies, giving Mirabel a wide, somewhat broken grin.
"You!" Someone exclaims.
"You've been- where have you been?!" Camilo says, marching towards the cousin he's been looking for for the past hours. Mirabel flinched, thinking Camilo would hit her with his ruana like when he's angry but instead she's met with a big hug. It's so incredibly warm, she could've sworn she dozed off in the tight embrace. Camilo pulled away quickly, still holding Mirabel's arms. He then slaps one of her shoulders, he winces remembering his hand was scraped from the fall when Casita was collapsing.
Mirabel's white clothes had a slash of red blood on it from Camilo's hand. Mirabel examined it with concern and grabbed Camilo's hand. "Are you crazy?! You didn't even cover the wound up! It's still bleeding!" Mirabel says as she rips a small part of her dress so she can cover Camilo's wound.
"Am I crazy?! You left and the blood didn't get the chance to dry up because I was looking for you!" Camilo points at Mirabel with his other hand. Mirabel tightened the cloth of Camilo's wound "Argh!"
"Well I'm back now, next time you should stop worrying about..me.." Mirabel's scolding trails off as she notices the blanket wrapped around Camilo. She made that for him and he's using it, wrapping it around him nicely. She touches it, it's covered in dust and some threads have gone loose because it wasn't finished yet. Her lips quivered seeing her primo wrap himself in something she made, something she worked so hard on for him. It suits him, the blanket has never looked better when it's on Camilo.
"Idiot, this wasn't finished yet. It was supposed to look better." Mirabel cries, wiping her snot with the back of her hand.
"It's perfect, prima. I do remember asking you for a handkerchief but you really gave me a blanket. See, now even Antonio knows I'm your favorite cousin." They both snickered together. Dolores looked at them endearingly. "Ay, Dios Mío! The twins are back together again. My head will hurt!" Dolores jokes.
Mirabel walks to Casita's broken door, she looks at the site, she looks back at her family who have gathered after hearing that she has returned.
Luisa was still crying, but she was happy and Mirabel knew that. Isabela changed into a blue dress. Struggling to keep her emotions in tact, she too had a sniffling moment. Tía Pepa and Tío Félix looked at her with relief with Dolores smiling sweetly at Mirabel. Mirabel's parents and Abuela huddled together holding each other, looking at Mirabel stepping up.
And Camilo, who had his special blanket hug him as he smiled at his cousin.
"You are shining, prima." He said as he tightened the grip on his blanket. Mirabel nods.
"Look at this home, we need a new foundation."
Mirabel lovingly looks over on her family.
"We'll be fine."
*****
The triplets have reunited, bringing Bruno back to his sisters who missed their 'Baby Bruno', he absolutely dreads the nickname but hearing it after a very long time of his family not even mentioning his name was quite refreshing, he almost doesn't mind it. Bruno has also found a new friend in his niece, Dolores who is partially thrilled her gift had ceased to exist which is exactly how he feels about his gift too."I mean, I like how there isn't noise ringing in my ears but I kind of miss my gift too you know. It could've been helpful when we were finding Mirabel. I must've taken it for granted. You know what I mean right, Tío Bruno?"
Dolores also kind of missed listening to her Tío Bruno's telenovelas and Bruno was ever the supportive uncle.
"What happens to Maria, Tío?"
"She..gets into a car crash and because she's in a coma, Catalinda plots to take all of her money by seducing Maria's husband, José."
"Oh my! Not José!" Dolores covers her gaping mouth.
Abuela tries to apologize and make up for her ignorance to her grandchildren's problems, of course the Madrigal children would have nothing against their own grandmother, she's still family. Camilo was being a little difficult at first but he can't hate his grandmother.
The town helped greatly when they rebuilt Casita. Mirabel and Camilo remained the absolute best of friends, going back to how they once were when they were children.
Of course, that brought along a lot of mischief, a lot of fun, but mischief for the most of it.
"Camilo! I still have to help Señor Julio with the courtyard!" Mirabel was fuming in anger, she crossed her arms and she was tapping her feet. "Wait! Hold on, I can definitely do it this time!" Camilo says, carrying the shovel he's been trying to spin for the hundredth time. He attempts to spin it again and it ends up falling pathetically on the ground. "Gah! Forget it Camilo! If you make me stay for another hour to see you fail that spinning trick I'll knock you out with that shovel!" Mirabel is worked up from stress and Camilo laughs.
Most of time, it's Bruno who gets to be the victim of their antics. Seeing as he is usually in charge for the sand layout, the 'twins' would often steal some of his buckets of sand so they can throw it at each other and see which one of them will get sand in the eyes first. Mirabel would be safe, her glasses would block out most of them. Camilo on the other hand, without his gift, he couldn't dodge efficiently causing him to get excused from helping in rebuilding Casita several times because sand got into his eyes.
Mirabel would think it's unfair that he gets excused but if she's being honest seeing Camilo laugh out loud and choke on some grains of sand was a very nice experience. Camilo is happy enough he doesn't get to work, they both get what they want.
Their pranks have upgraded from just stealing Dolores' shoes, after Dolores and Mariano get together, they often lead Mariano to Pepa all the time knowing how nervous Dolores is when her mother is alone with Mariano.
Mariano, being st- slow-witted, never gets the hunch that Mirabel and Camilo are lying to him.
"Uh..wait here Mariano, Dolores will be here any second." Mirabel lies to him and leaves him to Pepa.
Pepa, ever the loving mother, tells Mariano of Dolores in her childhood. "Oh Mariano! I've been meaning to speak to you. You know when Dolores was young, all she would ever talk about was you and she said she would dream of y-"
"Camilo! Mirabel! Stop leading Mariano to Mamá!" Dolores interrupts and chases them around the unfinished Casita. When she finally gets a hold of their ears, she pinches and twists them harshly. "Ow! ow, ow, ow ow!"
*****
Casita has finished building, Mirabel has finally finished Camilo's blanket, the Madrigal Family has finally started healing.
All they need now..is a doorknob. Antonio holds up one that had the letter 'M' engraved to it. It would've meant 'Madrigal' to others but the Madrigal family themselves knew what it stood for, it symbolized the very person who made everything possible. She persisted, she helped them go through the pain and the suffering, she carried the burdens for them and she did it all without any gift. She wasn't just as special as her family were, she was as special as it gets,
and her family could never be more proud of her.
The 'M' stood for Mirabel, their miracle who burned brighter than ever.
Mirabel smiles, looking at the reflection on her very own doorknob. She places it on the door and a surge of magic seeps through the whole house. The doors were back, the magic was back and a window opens itself and the shutters wave.
"¡Hola Casita!"
They step in their lovely house, the joyful music played and Tía Pepa danced beautifully with a familiar cloud presiding above her. Camilo tries to shape shift into Mirabel and it works, earning a whisper of amazement from Mirabel. He shifts back into Camilo, wrapping his new blanket around him and putting his arm around his cousin's shoulders. The gifts were back, the magic is back, Casita is back. They were finally home.
"Let's take a picture!"
The Madrigal family gathers for a picture. Mirabel, who was used to standing on the side for family pictures, smiled happily looking at her family's joyous expressions, until Camilo shouts: "Mirabel! Come on prima! Get in for the picture!" He gestures her to come to where they gathered. "This isn't familia Madrigal without you."
Mirabel puts her hands together, silently praying, thankful that she was given this chance to reconnect with her family.
"Alright! I'm coming!"
She squeezed in, fitting into the family picture. She looked left and right seeing her family, seeing herself included.
"La familia Madrigal!"
With all of them smiling, Camilo knew he and his prima have done their job.