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The candle is melting…
The magic will be gone…
All their gifts will be lost…
These thoughts are on repeat in Mirabel’s head, not being able to think of anything else as she looks down at the magic candle.
After getting the candle out of the house, the girl went to a small wooden box to hide from the heavily rain. Casita has already broken down, only leaving rubble of what once was their magical house. Abuela and the others went straight to the townspeople to find shelter, leaving the 15 year old girl behind with the melting candle.
As she looks at the barely burning flame, tears streaming down her face, Mirabel can’t help but think that this is all her fault…
It’s her fault that Casita cracked and broke down. She should’ve just done what her abuela has told her and not attended Antonio’s ceremony. It was because of her that the magic was dying because of her lack of a gift, that’s what abuela told her anyways…
The rest of her family probably all blame her as well. They all probably think that she was cursed, or that she did it on purpose, or that she purposely caused it…
They all probably hate her now…
But Mirabel knows how she can still fix it.
She looks at the barely burning flame of the candle, her breath shaking as she thinks it through.
Abuelo Pedro sacrificed himself in order for Casita to be build with magic. But now, she has to…
She’s the only Madrigal who has lived her entire life without a gift, so it only makes sense for her to make the sacrifice. Besides, her family probably won’t mind her gone. They only saw her as “the one without a gift”, or as an annoyance to be dealt with. They excluded her in everything anyways, so it won’t change anything for them…
It will probably be better for them…
Mirabel takes one last look at the candle, reminding herself what she’s about to do.
While on her journey to restore the magic, she slowly came to terms that she may have to die for that to happen. And now that time has come.
She’s deciding to go out in peace, surrounded by Casita’s magic for the last time in her final moments. It sounds like an ideal way to go, and it is. And the best part? Her family will finally know her worth, at long last.
Mirabel raises the candle to her chest, fully ready to accept her fate. Slowly, she can feel the magic in her and around her, feeling it’s warm glow and touch.
It feels great…
It feels so good to finally feel the magic for herself, to finally know what it’s like to get a taste of what her family always has. The girl finally knows what it’s like to have magic, to have a gift, something she has longed for her entire life.
Mirabel smiles at the realization. She never wants this moment to end, but it has to. Her family will be happy with magic again, and Casita will be rebuild.
That’s why it’s such a perfect way to go.
The 15 year old closes her eyes as the magic does it’s work. The golden floor isn’t even finished when-
“MIRABEL, NO!”
The girl is too tired to turn her head, but she recognizes that voice instantly. It sounded, afraid, stressed, worried, and desperate to make her stop what she’s doing.
It’s tío Bruno…
Suddenly, Mirabel feels the candle and magic ripping away from her, catching her off guard. She already misses the magic and it’s warmth when two arms pull her into a tight hug.
She knows who it is, she knows it’s tío Bruno, the one member of the family who truly understands her and her struggles. But she can’t help but feel angry. Why did he ruin her attempt to save the magic, to fix everything?! He said it himself, that the fate of the family and the magic came down on her! But he just ruined the only chance she still had! She tried to save the family’s fate, but he messed it up!
Yet, she hears his silent cries, and her anger slowly melts away. Her mind though, goes crazy with worry.
She tries blindly reaching for the candle, wanting to attempt her sacrifice again for her family, but to no avail. “T-the candle-“
“Doesn’t matter…” Bruno manages to say through his sobs and tears, like a dad who just found his missing child. “You’re okey…”
Those words hit the 15 year old differently. Her tío just brushed the melted candle off as if it’s nothing! Why?! Why did he stop Casita, his childhood home, from being rebuild again just for her?!
“Why…?” Mirabel manages to ask, her voice choked up.
“I could’ve lost you…” Bruno answers, hugging his niece a bit tighter.
Yup, she’s right, and it makes her tear up. Finally, someone who cares more about her then the magic, who loves her regardless of gift and won’t ever judge or isolate or exclude her.
Her throat becomes tighter, and a flood of tears come down her cheeks upon that realization. Mirabel may be soling wet and from the rain and shivering from the cold, but that doesn’t matter when you’re in the arms of family.
“I-I thought that…” she manages to start, but the lump in her throat cuts her off, following a flood of tears from her cheeks. “I thought that I…”
Bruno has already heard enough to get the full picture, though he already saw it all in his last vision. Yet it still horrifies him that his niece thought she had to sacrifice herself to save the magic, like his papá once did…
This simply enrages him. Unlike his papá, his niece is still a child! She shouldn’t sacrifice herself like that to save the magic’s fate! Especially when the rest of the family had only treated her like she was a bother!
He can’t loose the only family who has been there for him no matter what, who understands him and never judges him for his gift and truthful visions. He can’t loose her too…
“It’s okey…” Bruno says in an attempt to comfort his niece. “You’re gonna be okey…”
It makes Mirabel feel slightly better, knowing that there’s someone in her family that values her more then the magic. Yet she can’t ignore that, in the end, she failed. She failed to save Casita and the magic…
“Can we go back…?” she asks her uncle, just wanting to get away from the horrific scene that’s Casita’s remains, as well as wanting to forget her attempted and failed sacrifice.
At first, Bruno doesn’t know where his niece wants to go back to, but he quickly remembers that she was at his place asking him tons of questions before all of this. Honestly, he wants to go back home too.
“Of course.”
He stands up again, carefully pulling Mirabel up with him. They take one last look at the ruins of Casita, before walking away from the scene towards Bruno’s residence again.
He can see it in her expression that Mirabel isn’t ready to face her family yet after this. And when she is, he’ll be there for her.
Right now, Bruno is more then glad he was there in time.