Work Text:
“How long have you been living in this…house?” Mirabel asks her maternal tío, gazing at the messy living room. Honestly, it’s barely a house if it didn’t had any walls or a roof.
“Since Alma threw me out. So, around 20 years ago.” Bruno answers, an obvious sadness in his voice.
Despite having gotten her answer, Mirabel instantly notices her tío calling his own mother by her first name, something that is pretty much unacceptable. But it isn’t her place to call him out, nor can she blame him for it. Her tío has been disowned for 20 years already, so it isn’t her right to correct him on that.
“Don’t you feel alone or isolated in here sometimes?” Mirabel asks, feeling like that can easily be the case, since, well, you live all alone with three rats for two decades.
“It’s better then living with people who judge or hurt you.” he answers, looking at the three rats as they fight over a small slice of rotten cheese.
“Yeah…” the 15 year old only says, her gaze shifting to a wall.
After the three rats finally resolve their fight, Bruno turns his gaze back towards his niece. “Do your abuela and the others treat you okey?”
Mirabel doesn’t answer immediately. Instead, her gaze goes everywhere, avoiding her uncle.
That already gives Bruno his answer, but he still wants to hear his niece’s answer.
“Not…not really…” she finally answers, still looking away. “But, they’re still family, and we got to help them.”
Bruno has to process for a few seconds what his niece just said.
“Mira…” Bruno pauses, carefully thinking of what to say. He doesn’t want to sound or come off as manipulative, nor does he want to send the wrong message, but it still needs to be said. “Family shouldn’t treat you badly, at all. And if they do, you shouldn’t have to stay with them.”
“But they’re counting on me!” Mirabel nearly yells, a fit of emotions overtaking her. “This is my chance to prove myself so I would finally fit in and be one of them!”
As he hears her words, Bruno knows the translation to them. She wants to be a part of the family without any judgment. She wants acceptance from them. She wants to be special too. She wants to be included in her own family so badly, that she even accepted a dangerous mission to restore magic for them…
And he can’t blame his niece one bit…
“And that’s good!” he reassures the 15 year old, making sure that she understands he will support her. “But you don’t have to stay with them if they make you feel miserable.”
Mirabel stays silent for a moment, trying to process her feelings for what her uncle is trying to say.
To answer his question from earlier; no, her family doesn’t treat her very well. Not on purpose or anything, but still. They leave her out of stuff most of the time, answer questions for her as if she’s a pet, show off their magical gifts while knowing she can’t, make her sleep all alone in the nursery, and much more…
She hates it, Mirabel hates all of it. She still wishes that she had been granted a gift, then her family wouldn’t treat her like they did…
But, like she was already told, she doesn’t have to go back to them. she can just stay here with her uncle, who loves and includes her regardless of gift!
She honestly wants to, now that she has the chance, but she doesn’t want to anger or disappoint the rest of her family…
“Lo siento…” she apologizes, tears burning in her eyes. “I just don’t want to be left out anymore…”
“Está bien, Mira.” Bruno reassures his niece again, putting a gentle hand on her shoulder.
It then dawns on the girl that, throughout her entire life, she has been far more included and accepted by her uncle then the rest of her family ever had in the 15 years she has lived
They always managed to unintentionally make her feel bad and weird and isolated on a daily basis, wether they show off their gifts or made a snide remark, or just doing nothing at all. The townspeople weren’t any better, as they just dumped their kids on her to babysit for the day while they payed attention to her magical and gifted family…
They probably won’t miss her if she’s gone…
Heck, Abuela already said it herself, that she isn’t a part of the family…
That’s when Mirabel makes a decision. No, she isn’t going to risk her life for a family who treat her like an outcast anyways. She isn’t going to come back to them, knowing she’ll be miserable again.
“Can I…stay here?” Mirabel asks her tío, still feeling a bit unsure.
“Sí, of course.” Bruno answers surprisingly happy. “Maybe some company isn’t bad after all.”
The girl smiles at her tío’s answer before throwing her bag on one of the chairs. Though, she had expected him to ask her how long she wanted to stay here, but he probably knows it will be forever.
“You don’t mind losing your gift?” Mirabel can’t help but ask, knowing the the magic will be gone.
“I will happily live without it.” Bruno answers full with certainty, not even batting an eye. “That candle can burn into ashes for all I care.”
Hearing that, Mirabel relaxes a bit, knowing that, whatever happens next, she’ll always have her uncle by her side no matter what.
They’re just going to let that candle melt, let Casita break down, and see how the rest will live without magic.
It’s just petty revenge for years of judgment and exclusion.
•+•
In the end, Casita broke down, and the candle went out, leaving the Madrigal family without magic or a house.
They managed to build it back up with the help of the townspeople, and it quite looked like Casita again, but the house never came to life, nor did the magic return.
For years, they all waited for Mirabel to come back to restore the magic like she had promised, but she never did. Julieta particularly took it quite hard, blaming herself for causing her youngest daughter’s disappearance. After 6 months, Alma and Pepa concluded that the 15 year old had run away, and blamed her for the magic being gone, so they erased her off of the family tree as well.
“We don’t talk about Bruno.” quickly became “We don’t talk about them.”, referring to both uncle and niece being disowned and estranged from the Madrigal family.
For years, Antonio and Luisa would wonder how Mirabel was doing, or if she was still alive. They would sometimes hope she was happy somewhere else, but the fear of her not having survived the journey always struck their minds.
But in reality, Mirabel couldn’t be happier. Sure, living with her uncle in the middle of a forest could be difficult sometimes, but both wouldn’t have it any other way. The girl finally felt free from judgment and detachment, free from magic that made both her and her uncle miserable.
Besides, it was just petty revenge.