Chapter Text
"I hate you!"
"What have you done?!"
Mirabel pants as she listens to her family yelling for a vision that wasn't her fault,
or that's what she wants to believe.
"Abuela please, there has to be an explanation!" Mirabel pleads. Abuela looks back at her distressed granddaughter and frowns. "When I'm back, you better be in your room Mirabel!" She yells.
Mirabel steps back, afraid of adding more fuel to the already raging fire. She then notices the rats carrying the remaining shards of the vision.
As she turns to follow the little rodents, her uncle Félix blocks her away. "Ay Mirabel, listen to your Abuela. Come, help your cousins fix the table. Casita is breaking some plates because of the cracks." He says. "But the vision, I need to follow where it-" Mirabel tries to reason but she meets Dolores' scared eyes. Dolores shakes her head subtly.
Don't do it, Mirabel.
"Right..I'm sorry, I'll help." Mirabel hung her head low as her Tío Félix pats her gently on her back.
Mirabel passes by her cousin Camilo who follows her with his eyes, observing her closely. She gathers some of the utensils and some of the plates. "Are you bringing those to the kitchen, Camilo?" Mirabel asks as she gestures to the bowls Camilo was carrying. "Yeah." Was all Camilo could say. Of course it would be awkward, Mirabel was the one on the vision and they've all just learned about it. It's shocking, even for the unshakable Camilo. He tried to keep an open mind though.
"Let's go, primo." She says and leads the way to the kitchen.
They set all the stuff on the counters, when Casita starts to get better Casita will move them as always.
"Alright, that's all of them. I should-" Mirabel says, thinking about the rat. Mirabel then thinks about what Abuela said and the image of the vision creeps into her mind.
Casita breaking, with her in the middle of everything.
"What if..I'm hurting them?" Mirabel softly mumbles. "What?" Camilo shoots up, hearing his cousin say something that he thought was for him. "Did you say something, Mirabel?"
"No, I uh..was humming." Mirabel laughs for her cover-up. "Anyway, I should go back to my roo- I mean, the nursery. See you later, primo." Mirabel makes her way to the nursery, leaving a slightly worried Camilo back in the kitchen. He wondered what was on Mirabel mind as it had just occurred to him that..
it must be hard for her..right?
Not getting a gift, not getting any recognition unlike the rest of the family.
Camilo sits down to think.
Mirabel never let her lack of gift stop her from trying to help. She'd never want Casita to fall.
"It wasn't my cousin's fault." He whispers to himself.
Camilo stands to head to the nursery when Abuela comes home, stomping her feet and pushed Camilo aside to storm into the nursery where Mirabel waited. "Mirabel Madrigal!" Abuela slams the door.
Camilo heard a lot of yells and screams but none were from Mirabel. He understands though, they always knew how important the miracle was to Abuela. If she were to know that the candle will one day be put out by none other than her grandchild, Camilo could imagine how Abuela would react.
Dolores stepped out of her room to look at the nursery door with concern. She looked at her little brother near the nursery listening to Mirabel getting scolded badly by something she did not have control over, something she did not do.
Abuela kept yelling for another 10 minutes.
"Mirabel! You will not leave this room, not until the cracks disappear do you hear me?!"
"Wait- Abuela you can't do that!"
Mirabel pleading was interrupted by a slam of the door and a key locked in Mirabel in the nursery.
Dolores gasps and whimpers. "Abuela, isn't that a bit much-"
"Listen. Nobody enters that room, if you want to enter there I will keep you there." Abuela spat.
Camilo was silent, he was too scared to say anything about it to Abuela's face. He runs to his sister. "Dolores, can you hear her?"
"Yes, she's trying to bottle up her cries again."
Camilo looks into his sister's sad expression. Dolores puts her hand on her little brother's shoulder. "What can we do, Camilo?"
Camilo doesn't know. There is not a person who can go against Abuela except Tío Agustín and Tía Julieta but they've tried before, and they were shut down for worrying for their child.
Two days have passed. Mirabel's meals are being brought in by either Félix or Agustín as "they have no gifts" and they will not be affected by Mirabel, whatever effect that may be.
Julieta and Agustín tried to reason and they were visibly mad but Abuela shuts them down saying it is for the best. The sooner Casita is fixed, the sooner Mirabel can get out as she says.
Dolores says she seems okay but doesn't take into account that Mirabel knows Dolores is listening. Mirabel sometimes whispers light conversations so Dolores can listen.
Antonio visits the nursery by standing in front of the door everyday. He would say things but Mirabel would never reply, Antonio would cry but Mirabel could only say "I'm sorry." and not speak again. Antonio would try to sneak in notes but would be caught.
"Mirabel..I brought something. I didn't know how to make toys so I drew them instead. You can't see it but there's a butterfly here, and theres me and you and Casita! I also put flowers but I needed help from Isabela. It still doesn't look-"
"Antonio, you mustn't be here. Abuela will surely get mad at you." Pepa interrupts her son's rambling in front of a silent door. "Come on, let's go hm? It's getting late."
"Say goodbye to Mirabel for now."
Antonio sadly looked away and went with his mother.
Camilo couldn't take it anymore, he was sure he was as worried as his Tía Julieta was. He needs to get in the nursery, he needs to make sure Mirabel was okay. If he remembered correctly, there was a window in the nursery. He could slip through there.
Or he can just steal the keys but he felt that breaking in through the window was a lot easier. Just a peep, he'll just see if his cousin was okay and will immediately run out if she was.
He waited in his room until everybody was asleep and snuck out of his room. Casita aided Camilo into getting to the roof so he won't get hurt in the process.
Camilo sees the window is open which wasn't weird, it must've been hot inside and she needed fresh air.
He slowly looked into the open window without making a sound to see Mirabel sitting on the floor, her back leaning on her bead. She looked like she was in a trance and she had such a sad expression. She lifts her head up and looks at the window.
A lock of curly hair could be seen in the corner of the window.
"I can see you, you know. My eyesight isn't great but I'm not completely blind." She says and chuckles. Camilo laughs awkwardly and clumsily gets in the room. He falls head first into the room and Mirabel tries to help him up.
"Alright, I appreciate your visit but you need to get out of here. Who knows what might happen to your gift?" Mirabel puts her hands on her waist. "Well, before I go I'd like to ask some questions. We haven't seen you in days, how have you been holding up?" Camilo asks Mirabel.
Mirabel sits back on the floor with a gleaming smile. "I've been okay. Casita keeps me company, isn't that right Casita?" Casita responds by lifting some tiles. "Everything is fine. The miracle will be saved in this way, with me..on the side." She hugs herself and looks at Camilo.
"No, you're definitely not okay. Mirabel would escape when she's locked up and she'll keep escaping until they stop locking her up." Camilo sits beside Mirabel and bumps her lightly with his elbow. "What do you take me for? A troublemaker?" Mirabel laughs.
"Yes." Camilo replies.
Mirabel gasps jokingly. "How dare you? Out of all the people who could call me that it should definitely not be you!" She playfully slaps Camilo's back as they both laugh at their own antics. "Ay primo, do you remember when you would sneak out of this nursery to dance silly on the roof?"
"And you would follow me! Don't make it out like I'm the only troublemaker!" Camilo replies.
"Remember when we stole four pairs of Dolores' shoes!"
"When we almost burned the kitchen down after trying to bake a cake for Luisa,"
"When you shapeshifted into me for the whole day and Tío Félix looked for you all afternoon!"
"When we painted some of prima Isabela's flowers brown and she got really mad!"
"Ah..it was really fun. Why don't we do it more often?" Camilo asks and leans back on the bed. "Well, you've been very busy with your chores and I've been- well actually I don't have that much chores, I've been in my room."
"Speaking of which, I made some handkerchiefs for Antonio. Do you mind giving them to him? I tried to draw out his drawings that he's been telling me about and embroidered them into some spare cloth I had." Mirabel stands and opens the chest under her bedside table. She brings out 6 handkerchief with Antonio's drawings. The positions seem different and Mirabel's drawings look better but you can tell Antonio came up with them, seeing as it was always Mirabel and Antonio in his drawings.
Camilo's expression softened and he gently takes the handkerchiefs. "None for me? Seriously, you call yourself my cousin." Camilo pouts.
"I'll make you one next time. Now get out of here! Before Abuela sees you and cuts your head!" Mirabel slides her finger over her neck. "You'll be dead by dawn Camilo!" Mirabel says in a deep, playful voice.
"Ahh! Oh no! I gotta get out this.. ugly dragon's lair!" Camilo jokes.
"Hey! If you don't get out of here I'll cut your head off myself!" Mirabel scolds.
Camilo laughs a little too loudly and lowers his voice.
He climbs on to the window and gets out of the room.
"Get some sleep primo." Mirabel waves goodbye.
"You too, prima."
°°°°°
Camilo visited again the following night bringing Isabela with him. For Mirabel, it was odd that Isabela wanted to even see her. She assumed it would be because Isabela wanted to vent her anger to her face, which Mirabel thought was fair.
Surprisingly for both Mirabel and Camilo, Isabela didn't say anything that would suggest she was mad in any way. Instead, she held both of Mirabel's hands and Isabela trembled.
"I'm not supposed to be here..then again so shouldn't Camilo but..I didn't think Abuela would go so far that she would lock you in the nursery. I just- I wanted to know if you're okay. Don't! Don't think I'm forgiving you for ruining the proposal but..please be okay here." Isabela said it all so fast for the sake of her pride. She always seemed like she hated Mirabel.
To be fair, she's said that she had hated her sometimes but she doesn't mean it. Isabela cares for her family, that includes Mirabel.
"Also I forgot to mention, Luisa wanted to come but her footsteps was making too much noise. I had to send her crying back to her room but she said she wanted you to know that she doesn't think it's your fault her gift was fading." Isabela continues.
"Now, I don't have a present for you at the moment so..do you want me to grow something maybe?" Isabela awkwardly raises her shoulders.
"I don't like your flowers though." Mirabel says, messing around. "Yeah! Grow something else or something..like a..cactus!" Camilo pats on Isabela's shoulder, urging her to grow something she hasn't grown before. "Camilo! I was joking! Isa, I love your flowers, it's just Camilo who's-" Mirabel stops, seeing Isa's palm hovering over Mirabel's face. "Shh..maybe if I concentrate I can grow a cactus. It will be for good use." She glares at Camilo, Camilo smiles nervously.
Isabela opens her closed hand and a cactus in a small pot pops out of her hand. Isa seemed..in awe of her own creation. "Woah that's cool! You should grow more of those that looks perfect!" Camilo moves closer to the pot.
"It's beautiful." Mirabel and Isabela says at the same time.
"Camilo turn around." Isabela says.
Camilo follows, he then feels a sharp pain in his bottom. Since they should be quiet because Abuela could've heard them, he struggled to keep in a yelp. "HMMP!" He covered his mouth, he turned around obviously in pain.
"Hey! We're supposed to be quiet!" Camilo says wide-eyed, still covering his bum.
He sees Isabela snickering and Mirabel in tears trying to keep in a loud laugh. "Mirabel! Stop laughing!" Camilo whines.
"Alrigh- ahah! Alright you- you guys need to go now. I'm going to start dying here and you guys need to go to sleep." Mirabel manages to say in between her uncontrollable chuckles.
"Isa, thank you. I'm.. genuinely really sorry that I ruined your proposal. I didn't want to and I knew how much that meant for you." Mirabel says.
"How much it meant to Abuela, you mean." Camilo interrupts. "Seriously, you don't even like the guy." He turns to Isabella.
"I kind of noticed that too. Are you sure you even want to push through with this engagement, Isa?" Mirabel rubs circles on her sister's back. "I want to make Abuela happy, I want to do it for the family so..I'm sure of it. Don't ruin the next proposal, Mirabel." Isabela replies.
"Okay Isa, I promise I won't."
"I'll be staying for a few more minutes, you should go Isabela." Camilo says.
Isabela nods and waves them both goodbye as she uses her vines to swing out of the window oh so gracefully.
With Mirabel and Camilo alone, Camilo looks around. "What are you looking for?" Mirabel asks.
"Have you made mine yet? Did you make me a handkerchief too?" Camilo asks. "I waited until Isabela left so she wouldn't know I'm your favorite family member." He winks.
"What are you saying? My favorite is obviously Antonio."
"Mirabel!"
"Alright alright, yours isn't done yet. It would be best if you waited another night or two." Mirabel continues. "Thank you, primo. Now it's because of you that Isa and I made up and I don't feel lonely anymore."
"So am I your favorite family member now-"
"I'm trying to be serious here!" Mirabel laughs. "Anyway, I hope you know that before you went out of your way to visit me, I spent all night trying to figure out if I really was hurting all of you. What if..this really was my fault? You know? But last night, when you visited and asked if I was alright, I slept well. I slept well knowing you didn't think so and now Isa..Isabela and Luisa didn't think I was a..problem. I just somehow realized my worth and I'm tired of thinking I would always be on the side." Mirabel approaches the window and looks up into the sky.
"I want to shine too and I will shine one day once Casita's cracks disappear. After I get out of this room, we'll start climbing trees together again and steal Dolores' shoes again." She looks over to her cousin who had a grin plastered on his face.
"You got that right, prima." Camilo fist bumps his cousin's shoulder.
°°°°
The next nights weren't so eventful, except for the fact that Luisa and even Dolores came to visit with Camilo. "The other night, what were you guys saying about stealing my shoes again?!" She whispered loudly and the two troublemakers could only laugh. Camilo and Dolores' would tell their Tío Agustín and Tía Julieta how Mirabel was alright and well, earning a sigh of relief from the both of them.
Camilo would visit his prima every night and to his dismay Mirabel would reveal that she wasn't done with the handkerchief Camilo asked for yet, replying "You're lucky I don't make you pay for this commission." to Camilo's complaints.
"Hey by the way, I'm bringing everyone here tomorrow night- except for Antonio because of his bedtime. I did tell him what we were doing tomorrow and he was understandably sad that he can't go so I told him I'll deliver his letters to you." Camilo fiddles with his poncho. "Everybody really wants to see you. You know, I just realized it really was hard without you around. You'd ask us about our day, you'd wake us up for the morning and mind you, it is really hard to wake up by myself!"
"Aw that's nice, I'm excited for tomorrow night. It's too bad my favorite cousin, ANTONIO..won't come." Mirabel leans toward Camilo and pouts.
"Hey, you better cut that out. I really- I have feelings you know!" Camilo crossed his arms. "Aw..I'm sorry hahaha! I'm messing around primo. Just between you and me..hey come close so you can hear." Mirabel gestures Camilo to come closer.
"You are my favorite cousin." She whispers.
Camilo was silent and Mirabel hears little sniffles.
"C-Camilo? Are you..crying?"
Camilo leaves the window teary eyed by the surprising sentiment, smiling under the moonlight because of his cousin and his best friend, Mirabel.
He stops and sits on the roof, still wiping a bit of his happy tears. Casita lifts a few tiles, just it's own way of making sure Camilo is okay. "I'm okay, Casita." Camilo chuckles.
He stares at the quiet town and wonders how much more Mirabel can offer. He knew his prima will do great things, even greater things without a gift. He silently admired his cousin from afar, he sees her trying.
He saw her that day, when she didn't get her gift. They were so excited, trying guess what gift Mirabel would get, then when her door disappeared. Camilo saw how his cousin shattered, how she broke. He would never want to see that happen to his best friend again so he hopes tomorrow will cheer her up. He stands up and walks to his room.
"She deserves the world." Camilo whispers to himself.
Unbeknownst to Camilo, someone else was awake that night.