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Chapter Text

Mirabel left her uncle's room as quickly as possible, which meant it took about 10 minutes but she did hurry and adrenaline was her friend.  Turns out almost drowning in sand because you forgot about the door having a handle is a very effective way to get your body ready to run.  Go figure.

She glanced down at the bag she had stuffed all of the vision shards in, she pulled it shut tighter to ensure the green glow wasn’t visible.  In doing so she didn’t watch where she was going.

“Oomf.”  She heard the frustrated sound and immediately winced.  In her haste and distraction she had practically slammed her shoulder into her Abuela.

“Sorry Abuela.”  She said, quickly trying to diffuse the situation

Alma smoothed out the non existent wrinkles from her dress.  “Where are you coming from in such a  hurry?”

“I’m sorry I-”  Clearly Abuela was already upset about something and Mirabel did not need to make that worse.

“What is in your hair?”  Abuela asked, reaching up to her curls and Mirabel abruptly realized that she probably had a lot of sand still stuck in her hair and on her clothes.  How did Tio live in there for 40 years?  She would have left too.

Mirabel quickly tried to think of an answer while also trying to dislodge the grains from her hair.  However any answer she could have come up with was cut off by her hermana sprinting up the stairs and crying out in tears.

“My gift- I'm losing my gift!”  She sobbed.

“What”  Abuela questioned and Mirabel gave Luisa a look of concern.

“Mirabel and I were having this little talk about me carrying too much so I tried not to carry so much but I realized it was putting me behind.”  Luisa started and Alma shot Mirbael a dirty look.  Oh heaven forbid she speak with her sibling like they’re related.  “And I knew I was going to let everyone down.  And I felt really bad- So I was grabbing all the donkeys-”

Mirabel couldn’t help herself, “Again?  How did they get out twice in a matter of hours?”

“I think the fence is damaged.”  Luisa explained.

“Then why haven't they fixed the fence?  This is a regular occurrence for you, why do you have to get the donkeys 10,000 times instead of them stopping the donkeys from getting out?!”  Mirabel threw her hands up in exasperation.

“Mirabel if the farmers need help than we have a duty-”

“What is this ‘we’ business?  You never have to do any of this!  You just boss us around and tell us what to do!”  Mirabel said angrily.  Unbeknownst to her the rest of the family had just gotten back to prepare for the night's dinner and were watching the argument.  Luisa made the wise decision to back away and join the rest of the family on the ground floor

“And what of you?  You are no help to anyone, you get in the way.  Even now when Luisa listens to you her gift begins to fail.”  Alma shouted.

“The magic is already fading.  I told you that.”  She seethed.  “You told everyone I was drunk.”

“You were trying to cause panic.”  Alma insisted.

“I was trying to warn you!”  Mirabel shouted.  “You knew I was telling the truth, I heard you later at your window.  You knew the magic was failing but you didn’t care, you just wanted to keep your perfect image!”

“Mirabel that is enough!”  Alma shouted.  “I should have sent you away a long time ago, you’ve done nothing but cause trouble.  The magic decided you did not deserve a gift and that should have been my first clue.  The cracks, Bruno leaving, the magic is fading whenever you are involved.  I don’t know why you weren’t given a gift but it is no excuse to hurt this family!”

The ground shook at the words, the other members of the family gasped as cracks slowly began inching across the walls and ground.

Mirabel felt something inside her die at those words.  The small thread of hope she had held that things would get better snapped.

“I’ll never be able to be good enough.  I stay out of the way, I’m useless.  I try to help, I’m a distraction.  I don’t know why Tio left, I don’t know why I never got a gift!  But I do know that no matter how hard I- or anyone tries, it will never meet your expectations.  You wanna know why the family Miracle is dying?  Because you have such a strangle hold on everything that it's getting snuffed out!”

“Don’t you dare-”

“I love this family.  I would die for this family.  You're the one ready to dispose of anyone who doesn't meet your precious standards!  Isabella had to be perfect all the time, Luisa is a tool for lazy people to use.  Mama has no time for anything because she’s always healing idiots, Tia’s not allowed to feel anything unless it's whatever the village wants.”  She gestured angrily.  “I’m not the one who is hurting people, you are.  The Miracle is dying because of you!”

Cracks spread rapidly and a fissure appeared between the two, the second floor began to shake and fall, Alma jumped away from the broken half and watched as Mirabel desperately grabbed for something to keep her from falling.  She began to topple when Casita moved the stairs landing so she only fell a few feet.

“The candle!”  Someone shouted, maybe Felix she didn’t know.

Alma felt someone pulling her down the stairs, she glanced and saw her oldest daughter and granddaughter had come and were practically dragging her down the stairs and towards the door.

“Casita!  Get me up there!”  Mirabel jumped to her feet and Casita made makeshift stairs from the falling furniture and broken pieces of the building.

Animals burst from Antonio's new room, desperate to escape the magic room as it began to disappear.  Camilo and Isabella tried to follow Mirabel's example and run for the candle but their magic fizzled out, leaving them unable to travel to the higher stories.  Casita turned its floor tiles to waves to force out the remaining family members.

“Mirabel!  Mirabel!”  Julieta called for her daughter.  “Leave it, get out!”

“Mirabel get out!”  The family shouted for their second youngest to escape while there was time but a pile of rubble stopped them from re-entering the house.

Mirabel reached out desperately for the now much smaller candle she nearly fell but managed to grab it.  Right as her Tio’s tower gave way and began to topple towards her.

“Shit!”  Mirabel hissed and Casita flattened its tiles to a slant forcing her off the roof and to a small slide made of what remained of the grand staircase.  Frantically the house grabbed furniture, doors, anything it could to form a small shelter for its friend.

Mirabel felt rubble slip between the cracks of her small shelter hitting her head and causing her to cry out as she desperately tried to protect the small flame.  Dust made her eyes water but the noise finally stopped in that small dark space.

Mirabel blinked rapidly and tried to force her breathing to remain calm but there was so little space.  The rubble had buried her shelter and no light shone through the crack and the only noise was the debris settling.

The only light was the small flickering flame in the stub of her family's miracle.  Mirabel let out a hopeless sob.  She was stuck, she almost died and for what?  A miracle that was about to die anyways.  Leaving her alone in the dark.

“Come on little one.  Don’t give up”   Said something strange and unfamiliar, Mirabel felt like the voice was inside her head.  Was she hallucinating?  She was sure she had hit her head, and the rubble had hit her too, so it was a definite possibility.

She still felt like she needed to respond.  “I’m sorry.  I’m sorry.”

“You’ve nothing to be sorry for.” The voice insisted.  “You’ve done so well and have been given so little.  It was never fair to you was it?”

“I just wanted to help. I wanted- I wanted to be like everyone else, special and loved and-“  Her mouth was dry both from crying and all the dust she inhaled.

“Shhhh.” The voice hushed her.  “You did so well, little miracle.  You deserve everything you’ve been denied.  Go on.  It’s yours.  Take it .”

It felt like a hand was carefully guiding her own, until it hovered over the flame.  She thought about all the snide remarks over the years.  All of the forgotten birthdays.  All of the hate thrown at her when no one else was available.  All the love she lacked from the people who were supposed to give it freely.

She crushed the flame under her palm.

She expected darkness.  She expected pain from the fire.  She expected to feel completely and utterly alone.

Instead more light poured from her palms and all the pain from before disappeared.  The light spread up her arm and it felt like someone was wrapping her in a warm hug.

“Take a nap, kid.  I’ll handle them.”

Chapter Text

The Madrigal family was silent as the house finally fell.  The remains for their home in piles of plaster, wood, and stone.  Several of them had tears streaming down their faces but none of them made a sound for a moment.

Then Antonios sobs and it's like the spell is broken.

“Mira!”  He screams, scrambling towards the remains and searching for his best friend.

Most of the family follows suit, charging to find a way in to look for their missing girl.  Alma starred in shock.

“I can’t hear her.  I can’t hear anything.”  Dolores said numbly before running to help her TIa move rubble.

But before any of them could do more than step foot over the threshold a wave of gold shot from the fallen structure.  Everyone froze again and the ground shook as the house began to reassemble.  Walls rebuilding themselves, tiles clicking back together and returning to their places and dust rapidly clearing the air.  Soon Casita looked almost the same as it had, as if it had never fallen.

The family took a step back to observe and all stared, eyes wide with wonder.

The door handle turned and flew open.

“Mirabel!”  Antonio shouted and went to run for his best friend but someone held him back.  His hermano was looking with fear at their cousin.

Now that he looked closer something did seem wrong.  Mirabel's hands looked like they had some weird gloves on them but they glowed gold and split to little lines as they crawled up her arms.  Her normally warm brown eyes were gold too and looked like fire, flickering slightly.  But the most obvious change was her outfit.

Where previously she had always worn cool blues and teals now she was clad in black and gold.  Her pants had similar gold details to her gloves and her long cloak looked to have been lined with fire woven to fabric.

“Well hello.”  said a voice that was Mirabels but it sounded wrong.  Like someone else was talking over her, copying her words at the same time she spoke them.

“What are you?”  Augustin demanded.  “What did you do to my daughter?”

“Me?  Not much.  Healed her injuries, gave her a new outfit.  I mean it's not her usual style but I think it is pretty fashionable.  The color palette isn’t her regular either, but I prefer gold, you know?”   Said the thing wearing Mirabel’s face.  “Besides I think what you did is far more interesting.”

The thing clapped in excitement and sparks flew from her fingers.

“I gotta say I wasn't sure I would ever get here!  I mean I spent so long in that old candle I could never talk before.  This is a way better vessel, I mean look at me.” The thing spun around happily showing a familiar design on the back of their cloak.  “I look great.  And I can finally talk to you all after so long of just watching you tear yourselves to pieces”

“Why are you doing this?  Why are you using her?”  Julieta demanded.

The thing shrugged.  “She let me?  I asked, she agreed, easy as that.  Trust me I would never force someone to host me, that causes all sorts of problems and I really like this kid.  She’s got fire in her, even if some people tried to snuff it out she never gave up.  I appreciated that.”

“Give her back.  Now.”  Augustin growled.

The thing seemed to ponder this.  Humming and hawing tapping her cheek with her finger and shifting her weight from foot to foot.  Finally it stopped and looked back at them.  “Yeah, no."

The thing stepped out and the family backed away, Camlio pulling Antonio with him.

“See you hurt her real bad.  So bad, but she was still willing to risk anything for a Miracle that she thought rejected her.  Just because it meant so much to you.”   She stopped in front of Alma.  “Magic isn’t free Alma.  You got my magic because your husband thought you were worth saving.  Worth dying for.  He’s a Hero.  Your Nieta did the same?  She’s a problem you need to throw out.  Pedro thought you could change, and gave you every opportunity.  He was wrong.  Now he doesn’t get a say.”

“What do you-”  Alma started but the thing wearing Mirabel's face just turned away from her, bored of the conversation and unwilling to waste its time.

She stopped at a little tug on her cloak and turned back towards the family coming face to face with the littlest Madrigal.

“Is Mirabel okay?”  He asked desperately.

The thing smiled, it was Mirabel's smile whenever he asked her for help, or gave her a present, or asked for a story.

“Yeah little one.  She’s okay.  She’s taking a nap right now but when she’s ready to she’ll wake up.”  The thing put a hand on his shoulder and it was really warm, like sitting next to the fireplace.  “Do you wanna stay with me until she’s ready to wake up?”

Antonio nodded fiercely, he didn’t want Mirabel to be sad or confused when she woke up.  He heard his parents gasp and Camilo tried to pull him back but the Mirabel that wasn’t Mirabel just wrapped an arm around him and her cloak hid him from view.

Next thing he knew he was inside Casita’s courtyard, but he didn’t remember walking at all.

“Casita, leave the Kid and the Rat Man but I don’t want any other Madrigals, or anyone really, near here without my say.”

The Madrigals felt the earth shake and force them away, making them fall and the thing just gestured slightly as the earth cracked leaving large pieces of earth surrounding the house which rose away from the ground, now a cliff separated them from the surrounded family.

The door slammed, blocking his view of his family who were looking up in fear.

The wall shook and a hole opened up and someone screamed as they fell through the opening.  The thing chuckled and chastised the magic house but was smiling as they leaned over the person.

“Hello little seer.”  It said.

“Ow.”

You got out okay?  No injuries from ramming read first through a wall?”   It asked, still amused.

“No, I'm fine.”  Before he paused looking back at the person.  “You're not Mirabel.”

It wasn’t a question.

“No.”   It said, unbothered.

“What are you?  Or who are you?”  He asked, and Antonio was thinking the same thing.

“I’m the magic your family has wielded for the last 50 years but I am far older than that.  I am the magic of the Home and Fire.  You may call me Hearth .”   

Chapter Text

It was 2 days after Casita had fallen and was subsequently rebuilt.  Living with Hearth was very different from living with Mirabel.  Hearth had told him that if he wanted to visit his family or go to the village, then she (because when she was in Mirabel, Hearth was a girl) wouldn’t mind letting him up and down the cliff face.  It was really steep on one side but the back of Casita still left him plenty of space to play outside.

She had also given him his gift back, and all of his animal friends had returned.  Right now he was taking a nap with Parce while Hearth and his Tio, who he was very happy to meet, were trying to figure out lunch.  So far he had eaten a lot of sandwiches.

+x+

“So neither of us know how to cook?”  Hearth confirmed, her voice no longer layered itself but she didn’t quite sound like Mirabel.  Her voice was surprisingly cold for how much fire she held.

“I think this is more important that you don’t know it than me.  Ms. Magic of the Home.”  Bruno rolled his eyes.  Both were just standing in the kitchen looking at the many appliances that they did not know how to work.  

“I can just make food but that's not the problem.  It’s made of magic not nutrients”  Hearth rolled her eyes.  “It works for short periods of time, and we would probably be fine but Antonio needs actual food and so does Mirabel, I have to be careful as it is.”

“What could happen?’  He looked concerned.

“Pretty much what happened to you.  Magic oversaturation.”  She waved her hand.

“What do you mean?”  He asked her.

“Look.  You repressing your magic for 10 years?  Bad enough but you were living entirely off of magic imbued food.  You super oversaturated your system by combining the two.  I don’t even know if you're technically human anymore.”

“What?’  Bruno yelped.

“Come on, you must have noticed.  You needed to eat less, you could understand your rats better, as if you were actually communicating, you could stay awake longer.”  Hearth listed off on her glowing fingers.

“That's not that weird.  I was eating smaller meals so I adapted, I just got used to reading my rats because they were the only things I interacted with.  Plus I always had insomnia so the sleep thing was a long time coming.”  Bruno waved away each of the points.

“You glow in the dark Bruno.”  Hearth said unimpressed.

Okay maybe she had a point.

+x+

They ate more sandwiches.  Most of the food in Casita was beginning to run out and Hearth was stuck with a problem.  She had yet to set foot from Casitas grounds and the others hadn’t either.  The easiest way to avoid conflict was to avoid people entirely.

“They aren’t happy.  They’re discussing exorcism with the priest again.  He seems on board so long as they find a way to avoid him climbing the cliff.  He doesn't want to fall.”  Hearths eyes were pointed turned away as if she were looking through a wall at the people talking about her.

They understood she had a connection with the gifts, obviously but the extent of which had been surprising.

“When Pedro died his sacrifice bought safety, and a home.  I made the Encanto, the mountains, the jungles, the fields, and rivers.  I can see and hear and feel everything.  I shared what I could do with all of you, speed up plant growth, change the weather, and hear everything.  Make loads lighter, make the animals hear you, heal people, change forms.”  She paused.  “See the future.  It’s my magic, I just let you all use it.”

Now she was listening to the Madrigals plans while sipping a mug of coffee.

“We’re running out of sandwich materials.”  She said, setting down her mug, “And coffee.”

“That is definitely important.  We need other ingredients, or someone to bring pre-made meals.”  Bruno suggested.

“I can write a note and we can send Pico.  Maybe someone will be willing to bring things and Hearth can just grab them from there.”  Antonio said from where he was sitting in his uncle's lap, he really liked getting to know his Tio.  It made him frustrated that no one told him about Tio Bruno before.

“Hmm.  I think that's a good idea, little whisperer.  Let me think about it.”  She said, drinking the rest of her coffee and going back to her room, or Mirabels room.  Whatever it was, it was cool.

The room was comprised of dozens of floating platforms that switched out depending on what she needed.

+x+

The Madrigals had been a mess for the last two days.  Julieta was always moments away from crying, Augustin looked like he hadn’t slept in days, Luisa hardly left her room, and Isabella had gotten into a screaming match with her parents and had gone to stay with a friend instead.  The rest of the family were split between different guest rooms.  Alma was staying with Senora Guzman, and Pepa’s family was staying with Felix’s parents.  Julieta and Augustin stayed in a room above a shop in town square; there weren’t many guest rooms in Encanto.

Every day the family would meet and talk about what to do, sans Isabella who was avoiding them.  Now Pepa and Felix were shaking apart, terrified of what the monster could be doing to their youngest.  Dolores had broken into sobs since she wouldn’t be able to hear him if he called for help.  Camilo had been numb ever since.

The sisters were at eachothers throats most of the time.  Pepa blamed Julieta for her daughter kidnapping her son and Julieta was furrious she wasn’t showing more concern for Mirabel.

They had tried to scale the cliff that now separated Casita from the rest of the town, implored the house to help them.  But Casita had just shaken angrily and the ground shifted in warning that they would fall if they attempted to climb the wall.

“The priest has agreed to perform an exorcism but we need to find a way to enter Casita without danger to ourselves.”  Alma said sternly.  “We do not know what Mirabel is willing to do to keep us out.”

“It’s not Mirabel.”  Julieta hissed and Augustin rested a hand on his wife's shoulder and glared at his mother-in-law.  She was so quick to blame their little girl who was clearly as much a victim as they all were.

“What if we went around,”  Felix pointed to the map in front of them, tracing a line.  “Casita can only affect the land immediately surrounding the house.  If we go up the mountain and back down on the far side of the house, we may surprise them.  We can grab Antonio and catch Mirabel so the priest can save her.”

“It’s worth a shot.”  Augustin agreed.  He was ready to do anything to get his sweet little girl back.

+x+

Hearth scoffed from where she stood, invisible to the naked eye.  Exorcism wouldn’t work on her, she was no demon.  And if they really thought Casita wasn’t going to stop them they deserved to fall.

And she’s let them but now she had other work to do.  The sun had long since set and the Encanto was winding down towards sleep.

Hearth moved closer to where she intended to be, stopping outside of the house of a grocer.

She stepped through the wall.

“Psst.  Kid.”  She hissed and the teen in question jumped near a foot in the air.

“Your- your the-”  He whispered in fear, clutching his book close to his chest.

“Yes yes, the big scary monster that possessed a poor girl and kidnapped a kid and stole the house.  Except they nearly got Mirabel killed, I’m possessing her with permission and the kid is staying with me so he can comfort Mirabel when she’s ready to face the world again.  But you knew some of that didn’t you mageling.”  She narrowed her eyes.

Cautiously the kid nodded.  “I knew that- that Magic vessels can switch between- between forms.  But a living host has to be in agreement with the magic or- or the host will just die and kill the magic with it.  And Mirabel isn’t dead so-  She had to agree.”

“Very good point.  Shall we do introductions then.  My name is Hearth, I am the magic of Home and Fire.  I am connected to Mirabel via the miracle her Abuelo paid for with his life.  She needed time to think and reflect, and I am giving her that.”  Hearth said, sitting, while still floating.

The teen sat down on the chair in his little study.  “I’m- Luis.  Luis Gonzalo, and I’m or I want to be a mage.  But right now I just work for my padres.”

Hearth knew this, she had kept a close eye on the kid.  14 years old, a secret passion for studying magic that he shared with his grandfather, now deceased.  His parents frowned upon his hobbies, meaning the kid had to practice in secret, he had cleared out a little storage closet to store his work in. 

“Well Luis, I have a deal for you.  I may be a lot of things, but a cook I am not  And I have two kids I'm taking care of that need real food.  So here's the deal, you’ll get a little letter at the end of the week with what we need, groceries, mostly food.  You wrap them up and bring them to the edge of that cliff without anyone seeing you.  You understand what I’m getting at.”

“Travel at night, don’t let anyone see me or tell anyone I’m helping you.”  Luis nodded.  “Um- you can pay right?  My dad will be furious if food is missing without the money.”

“I can pay, the Madrigals kids left all their money in Casita.”  She joked.  “Don’t you wanna know what you get out of it?”

“I think knowing I’m keeping a magic vessel and a kid alive is enough payment.  I don’t want to see anyone hurt because they won't give you guys food.”

“That's exactly why I picked you Luis.”  Hearth grinned.  “I knew you were going to do it because it was right not because you wanted anything.  But you're doing me a favor and I live by nothing comes for free.”

She snapped her fingers and the room seemed to expand, the cramped space tripling in size and filling with trinkets and more importantly books.  Luis stared in awe.

“It works the same way Casitas rooms do, bigger on the inside than it looks on the outside.  Except if anyone tries to come in without permission it will just look like a plain old storage closet.”  Hearth explained, reaching her arm out towards him.  “So mageling, we have a deal?”

He shook her hand quickly. “Absolutely, thank you.  Thank you so much, it's more than I could ever dream of.”

“I know.  Here's the first list, think you can grab all this stuff for me now?”

Chapter Text

Hearth strutted, literally strutted, into Casita with arms full of bags.

“Food.”  She said, dropping her haul onto the table.

“Great.  We still can’t cook.”  Bruno said while Antonio eyed a wrapped pie.

“I know how to use a stove, I can scramble eggs and boil potatoes.  This will tithe us over until we learn how to make more of our own stuff.”  She gestured.  “Plus a lot is just add water.”

Bruno snorted at that.  It wasn’t the healthiest diet but what matters was it was food, Hearth had been trying to get him back to eating real food and it turns out you need to eat a lot to replace a magic diet.

“We get more on Fridays.”  Hearth said, “It was a perfect idea Antonio, now our friend will get Pico’s letter and bring us groceries once a week.”

“Who did you make friends with?”  Antonio asked as he reached over and grabbed a pre-made buñuelo and cheerfully bit into the treat.

“A kid named Luis Gonzalo, grocer’s kid, likes magic.”  She explained.

“Are you sure you can trust him?”  Bruno asked, worried.  “You're not exactly in the town’s favor.”

Hearth shook her head, “I know that but the kid actually wants to know how magic works, studies it.  So he knows what I am and knows I’m not going to cause harm unless provoked and that I’m not about to hurt the village or my host.”

She huffed, “Reminds me.  Tonito time for bed.”

“Story?”  He requested.

“If you want.”  Hearth nodded.  “Go get changed and brush your teeth.”

The kid ran off to do that.

Once Antonio was gone the mood of the room shifted to something serious.  Hearth spoke without looking at him but her shoulders tensed and something angry came into her voice.

“They’re going to try and get into Casita tonight, they're traveling through the mountains to come in from the back as we speak.”  Hearth said, and the glowing in her hands flared in frustration.

“They won't get in.  Casita wouldn’t let them.”  He reminded her.

“Mirabel doesn't want them hurt, not physically.  I want someone to make them take the hint and back off.”  She hissed.

“You want me to talk to them.”  Bruno concluded.  “They won’t listen.”

“I am under no impression that they will.  Not now at least.  But the tipping point is there.”  She grinned.  “Plus you can scare the ever living shit out of them.”

“I’m not sure about that.”  He mumbled.

“Just you wait and see, with all the bogeyman stories they built up, the smart ones will run at the sight of you.”  She said.

Bruno shrugged.  He didn’t want people scared of him, didn’t want them to think him malicious.  But Hearth had pointed out it was a very effective way to get people to leave him alone.  And if they stopped harassing his possessed niece so Mirabel could keep working through her shit then it wasn’t so bad.

+x+

Felix and Augustin had rounded up a small group of men and women to help them.  Pepa and Julieta were with them of course, and Dolores had joined.  Camilo and Luisa stayed with Abuela and Isabella still had no interest in talking to them.

The group had gathered in the dead of night and it was close to 2 AM by the time they began to descend towards the silent house.

No one had brought weapons per say, a few machetes to make traversing the jungle easier but none to actually hurt anyone, but Augustin knew there was a bag and some rope somewhere since they hoped to catch the demon possessing his youngest.  He didn’t like the idea of attacking her one bit but he kept reminding himself it was to save her.

There were no lights in the house as they began to sneak from the treeline.  Taking careful steps not to alert anyone.

“Took longer than expected.”  Someone scoffed and Augustin quickly went to hush the person when he froze.

A glowing green figure broke from the trees to their right and walked to stand between them and the house, full moon illuminating gaunt features and violently green eyes.  Augustin could hear machetes leave their sheethes.

“Really guys?  Weapons?  What, were you gonna kill her, I thought the goal was exorcism?”  Bruno huffed.

“Bruno, let us save her.”  Felix pleaded while the sisters sobbed at the sight of their triplet.

“You don’t get it.  She’s not hurt, there is nothing to save her from.  She was hurt, you hurt her, now she needs time to rest.  Hearth is giving her that.  She isn’t a puppet master, Mirabel can wake up at any time and be in full control and Hearth won’t stop her.  If anything Mirabel is telling Hearth what to do, she asked Hearth not to let any of you get hurt.”

Bruno let out a long sigh.  Glaring at the people who dared bring weapons when children were at stake.  “You though, she made no such agreement.  You have five seconds to get the fuck away from our house.”

At the words the grounds shifted as sand and dust rose up in a swirl of green magic.  Solidifying into shards of glass angrily pointed at the group.  He was half way through the countdown when almost all turned heel and ran.  One brave, or perhaps stupid, person chose to charge forward lifting his machete over his head to bring it down on the seer who just stood there.

The machete came down as the Madrigals cried out for the man to stop.  It shattered as if it were glass when it connected and Bruno just gave the man a dirty look.

“One. Times up.”  The glass shot towards the stupid man and he screamed out as large gashes were cut into him.  One connected to his eye and he shot away from the seer screaming.  Once he was out of the sand storm though most of the gashes healed over, turning to clean white scars.

The man fell to the ground shaking from pain of injuries that had already healed.  A milky white eye looked in fear before he fainted.

“Well that takes care of that.”  He shrugged as the sand fell back to the earth and the green glow faded from the earth.

The Madrigals stared in terror at what they had seen.  If there was one thing Bruno had never been, it was violent, but he had just nearly killed a man with no hesitations.

“Hearth has been trying to force me to use magic more, says I need to stop repressing it so we brainstormed new ideas for how to use it.  Turns out I can speed up the time it takes for something to heal and the sand thing was more useful than I thought.  He is also never getting that shit out of his clothes so fuck you too guy.”

“She- She got to you too”  Pepa said, eyes wide with terror.

“What is this ‘got to me’ she didn’t ask me to do that.  She figured I could just say something scary and most would charge off.  The theatrics were my idea.”  He huffed.  “Guys I really need you to get it, so I’m going to say it slowly.  You. Messed. Up.  All of you.  You hurt Mirabel and she never deserved it.  You hurt me, and apparently I never deserved it either.  Mama screwed us all over, but each and everyone of you is responsible for your own choices.  You wanna see Mira again?  To make Hearth leave and Antonio want to talk to you again?  He’s not stuck here by the way, Hearth has offered multiple times to let him go visit you, and he refused.  If you wanna fix things, then first you have to look at what you did wrong.”

He turned on his heel and walked back into Casita the green glow following him and as the door closed the night was dark again.  The ground shook and the entire family was carried by the earth past Casita and safely down the cliff side.

Bruno meanwhile entered the kitchen where Hearth was sitting waiting.  He had intended to get coffee but hearth seemed intent on breaking his wall habits.

“You handled it well.”  She said, taking a sip of water and handing him his own glass, which he was pleasantly surprised had alcohol in it instead.

“I blinded a guy.”  He pointed out.

“Only in one eye.”  She shrugged, “He’ll live.”

“Your standards are on the floor.”  He fell into a chair.

“Trust me, if I had it my way I’d have burned this whole place and tried again.”  Hearth said leaving to return to the room she had formed for Mirabel.  She had been making sure Mirabel's body was still well fed, clean, and rested.

“Night Hearth.  Goodnight Mirabel.”  He said, knowing she heard him.  Before laying his head on his hands and thinking about what he had just done.

Chapter Text

The Madrigals had practically fallen into the Guzman's house where three of the remaining family members waited for them.  They told the horror story of what had happened, Bruno who looked as inhumane as Mirabel now was.  The man that now lacked half his sight, the warning given to them.

The three were suddenly very happy they had chosen not to go.

+x+

Isabella had heard through the grapevine (haha) that there was someone else haunting the house on the hill.  Currently she was looking up at Casita from the bottom of the cliff face.  She had stolen a change of clothes from her friend's brother and was currently dressed in a deep purple shirt and brown pants, belt as tight as it could go to get them to fit.  She had taken her friend's boots, this time with permission and began to sike herself up.

“You’ve got this.  You could pull yourself up a vine without a single handhold, you can get yourself up a cliff face.”  She gave her head a shake and steadied her breathing.

She looked for the safest way to climb.  She set her foot on the first hold, and reached up for a grip.  She hoisted herself with strength from hours spent climbing vines and learning acrobatics.  She set her foot on the next step and grabbed for the next hand hold.  She repeated the steps until she was half way up the cliff.  She paused and tried to catch her breath, looking up made her feel like she was making good progress, looking down made her realize how high she actually was.

Her head spun at the height and her hands began to sweat.  She closed her eyes and focused her breathing, trying to force herself calm.  She was going to be fine, she had been this high up before.  Sure she had her gift then and could catch herself but she hadn’t fallen in years.

She re-opened her eyes and looked for the next hand hold.  She made sure her grip was solid before climbing again.  She made it another few yards before she couldn’t find a solid hold.

"No- no no no no no."

Her hand reached around feeling for a hold, her balance was slipping with only one hand since her foot holds weren’t perfect.  She scrambled to find better purchase, she was so far off the ground!  If she fell she would-

Her foot slid.

Isabella let out a scream as she dropped but almost immediately slammed into a stone platform.  She hissed in pain and could already tell she was going to be bruised.  But she’s take bruises over a broken leg.

She looked at the platform she had landed on, which she knew for certain hadn’t been there before.  Which meant one thing.

“Tio, Antonio, thing possessing Mirabel?  I gotta talk to you.”  She called up.

There was no response for a moment and Isabella wondered if she would have to just climb down.  She was peeking over the edge, yeah that was high.  But finally she heard the sound of footsteps and looked up to see a glowing green face peering down at her.

“Isa?  Geeze kid!  What were you thinking?”  He said.

“Tio!  Tio, I gotta talk to you!”  She begged.  “I know that Mirabel, or you know whoever that is, probably doesn't want to see me but I really have to talk to you .”

Bruno seemed to hesitate before glancing back behind him and saying something she couldn’t quite hear.  After a second he nodded and the platform she was on began to raise.  Once she was in reach Bruno pulled her onto solid ground and she breathed out a sigh of relief.

“Thank you Tio.”  She said, running her fingers through her hair on instinct.  Something about the tug on her scalp had always been great at helping her focus.

“You should really thank Hearth.  She’s inside now but she can hear you.”  He explained, gesturing back towards Casita.

“Um.  Thank you, Hearth.  Is that what's-”  She trailed off.

“Yeah Mirabel is hosting her magic for the time being.”  He shrugged.

“I’m going to pretend to know what that means.”  Isabella decided.  “Still thank you, both of you.”

“What's wrong Colibríta?”  He asked.  “You risked your neck to get up here, there were other ways around, your parents used them, why’d you try and climb the cliff?”

“Had to come see you.  Right away.  Plus I have no idea how the others got here.  I haven’t exactly been… talking to them.”

“Hearth said you got in an argument.”  He remembered.  “Come on in, you look like you could use coffee.”

“Yes please.”  She thanked him.  “Hola Casita.”

The house didn’t exactly seem enthused.

“Yeah, I wouldn't be happy to see me either.”  She admitted.

Finally when she was sat down and had downed half her coffee in one breath she put her head in her hands and let out a long sigh.  “I need help Tio.  You- you always gave the best advice.  You could always find a solution.”

“What's wrong Colibríta?”  He repeated.

“I- what isn’t wrong?”  She let out a humorless laugh.  “It looked like everything was so- so- set in stone.  Now I have no idea what's going to happen.  Strangely this is probably the best thing that could have happened to me.  And I feel like an asshole for saying it, but it’s true!”

“How is this the best thing that could happen to you?”  He asked.

“Because I didn’t have to go through that engagement dinner.  I didn’t have to say yes.  I didn’t have to sell my future away to keep letting people play with my life like it was a game of dolls.”  She said, tears pricked at the corner of her eyes.  “Mierda, I did not want to get married.”

Bruno looked at her like she had grown a second head for a second.  “For the love of- Isa if you didn’t want to get married why didn’t you say anything?”

“Abuela wanted it!  She set up the whole thing, I didn’t even want to date Mariano, don’t get me wrong he’s a sweet guy, but I am just not interested!”  She tugged on her hair.  “And I did!  Back when he was going to ask me out.  Abuela was going on and on about how perfect we were and when I said I wasn’t sure she told me that it was just nerves at getting asked on a date.”

“And I listened, I figured if I would go on a few dates and if I still wasn’t interested we would both lose interest and stop.  But everytime I told anyone I wasn’t sure, Abuela would hear and tell me that it was fine and that it was a perfect match!”

“Isa, you've dated Mariano for 2 years!  And no one ever listened?”  He asked.

“I mean no?  Mama and Papa were so blinded by their oldest dating they just believed Abuela.  Tia said the same and Lu tried to help but I eventually told her to stop because Abuela kept giving her more chores so she couldn’t intervene.  Eventually I gave up and figured it was right and I was just nervous about my first relationship.”  She rubbed at the ugly tear stains on her face.  “I probably should have just told Mariano, he’s a good guy, he would have understood and broken it off.  Instead I led him on for 2 years.  Gosh I’m such a bitch.”

“Yeah…  I actually can’t argue that.  I mean, I understand why you never told Mariano and why you were frustrated, but your way of handling it…”  Bruno rubbed the back of his neck.

“I took it out on Mirabel.”  Isabella concluded.  “Because I was an ass who took it out on the only person the family wouldn’t jump to defend.  Because in the end I’m just a shark who attacks when there's blood in the water.”

“That's a way to put it.”  He agreed.

“And now?  Abuela wants to keep the engagement!  Even with all the shit that's happened!  I snapped, I finally broke.  10 years of keeping the perfect mask in place and I snapped it at the slightest interference, what would have happened if I still had my gift Tio?  I could have hurt someone, heaven knows I wanted to strangle Abuela or break someone's nose for years!”

“Well I think we are all grateful you didn’t turn to homicide Colibríta.”  He said.

“I missed the nicknames.  People stopped using them after you left.”  She mumbled.  “I only ever used Lu’s when she was stressed.  We would have sleepovers in my room, after Dolores went to bed since Abuela would definitely weasel it out of her.”

“At least you still looked out for one of your sisters.”  Bruno mumbled.

“I shouldn’t have-  Why did I think her life was so easy?  I built up this image that Mirabel never had to be perfect and that she didn’t have the same mountain of weight on her that we had.  And maybe she didn’t but she definitely had stuff weighing on her.  But unlike us she never had any help to support it.”  Isabella slammed her head against the table again and growled in frustration.  “Gosh, why?  Why didn’t bother to actually look!”

“Because sometimes we only see what we want to.  And when someone tried to disrupt it-”  Bruno started.

“We lash out.”  Isabella finished.

“Yeah.”

“What do I do now?  I don’t want to be anywhere near Abuela, but Mirabel doesn't need to deal with my shit.  I don’t really get what the whole Hearth thing is about but I’ve gathered that Mirabel is taking a break from the shitstorm that is our family.”  She wiped the remaining tears from her eyes.  Gosh when was the last time she just let herself cry?

“You want my advice?”  He asked, and Isabella nodded.  “Go, take a break.  Leave Encanto if you can and just take time to think.  Take a real friend and let yourself decide what your going to do.”

“Is there a way out?”  She asked.

“I don’t know.  But I think if you asked politely Hearth would make a way.”  He suggested.

Isabella thought hard.  She had been staying with her friend Valeria for the past few days since Val had always been more interested in talking than anything Isabella could have done for her.  And her brother was a nice dude who Val shared a house with.

“Okay.  Yes.  That’s- I’m gonna- take a vacation.”  She decided.

“Do you feel better?’  Bruno asked.

“A lot.  Thank you Tio, for listening.”  She said, hugging her uncle.

“Thank you for wanting to talk.  It’s more than any of the others have tried.  They tried to storm the place, one guy tried to take my head off.”  He hugged her back.

“I heard.  I also heard you stabbed him in the eye with a shard of glass.”  Valeria’s brother had heard it all from their father who had been on scene.

“I technically didn’t stab him, I had no interest in letting anyone get blood on my new ruana.”  He gestured to the garment.  Taking a closer look Isabella realized it was indeed different, far less worn and the hour glasses now had little rats between them.

“Mirabel?”  She guessed.

He nodded.  “Hearth apparently made it from Mirabel’s thoughts.  She guesses I’ll get another once Mirabel is more up and about, since she’ll probably want to make one herself.”

“That sounds like her.”  Isabella thought about dresses and skirts Mirabel had gifted her for the holidays and birthdays that she had never worn since they didn’t match Abuela’s wishes.  “Do you think I could grab some of my stuff while I’m here?”

“Uh Casita?”  He asked the house.  In response a box fell from above them, inside were all the garments Mirabel had made.

“Gracias Casita.  This is exactly what I needed.”  She gathered up the box and gave her Tio one last hug and he walked her out.  As they left the kitchen she glanced at the top of the stairs.  The gold and black figure of the thing possessing her sister.

“You can get in and out.” Hearth told her, “Once you're ready to come back, you can.  The nearest town is to the North.  But just a warning, I’m not opening it a third time.”

Isabella nodded.  She wasn’t going to waste her chance.

Chapter Text

Hearth and Bruno had slowly but surely started figuring out how the kitchen appliances worked.  They couldn’t make complicated dishes but they had figured out how to fry things without burning them.  Luis had started finding easy recipes and writing them out to send with the groceries.

Antonio loved to help them in the kitchen but spent half the time shooing his animals from the room as they tried to steal food.  Just because he could talk to the animals didn’t mean they always listened.

Currently they were trying to make empanadas.  It was going…better.  Bruno had dropped the cornmeal container when a coati ran under his feet and Hearth had only caught it after half had spilled on her.

Antonio was reprimanding the creature while Burno found the dustpan and Hearth went outside to dust all the cornmeal off her cloak.

“Do you think I should make a different outfit?  I think Mirabel is kinda bummed about wearing black all the time.”  She asked as she threw the cloak over a chair.

“Probably, you do look like a villain from a movie sometimes.”  Bruno nodded.

“That was kinda the point.  Besides the black made the gold pop.  Maybe navy blue so that it still shows up?”  She wondered aloud.

“You like yellow because your fire right?”  Antonio asked from where he had just shooed the animals from the kitchen again.  “Fire can be blue right?”

Hearth pondered this.  “Yes, usually when full combustion of whatever's burning is reached.”

“What’s that mean?”  The five year old asked as he began mashing the potatoes his Tio had given him.

“It’s like… when the fire completely finishes burning its fuel.  It takes a bit of time usually but there are some things that burn really fast.”  She explained.

“Like what?”  Antonio asked as he worked to crush a particularly large piece of potato.

“Alcohol.”  Hearth shrugged.

“Can I-”

“No.”  TIo Bruno cut in.  “We are not burning anything, not in Casita.  Plus I need that alcohol and Luis can’t bring us more since his papa will definitely notice if that's missing.”

“Spoil sport.”  Hearth mumbled.  Then whispered to Antonio.  “It’s okay Tonito, I can make blue fire without taking any of Bruno’s alcohol.”

Antonio giggled madly at that while Bruno eyed them suspiciously.

They managed to finish the empanadas without any other accidents and all carefully tried them.

“Pretty good..”  Bruno said.  They weren't amazing chefs but this tasted good and they had managed not to burn anything.

“Success!”  Hearth cheered and tacked the recipe to the wall next  to their other successful recipes.

+x+

Hearth was sitting on a couch in the sitting room sketching away.  The blue fire idea seemed to have stuck and she had sketched out different plans for outfits.  Hearth apparently had a preference for pants but Mirabel liked the flow of skirts.  Evidently that is the source of the long cloaks.

Bruno was reading a book one chair over while Antonio was dozing lightly curled up next to Hearth.  She was a human space heater, since Mirabel’s blood was now filled with fire magic.

Suddenly Hearth’s hand paused in sketching and she blinked a few times as if adjusting to the light.

Bruno noticed her weird reaction and looked over.  “Hearth you okay?”

“Hi Tio.”  Mirabel said, and it was her.

“Jeez kid!”  And he tackled his niece into a hug which of course roused Antonio who did the same.

“You're awake!”  He cheered.  “Hearth said you were sleeping so I stayed till you woke up.”

“I know thanks, Hombrecito.”  She ruffled the five year old hair.

“Are you staying awake?”  Bruno asked.

“I don’t think so.  I still have a lot to think about and sort through.”  She looked sad again.  “But I’ll probably be awake more.  I just wanted to talk to you guys.”

“That's okay, take all the time you need.” He assured her.

“Thanks Tio.”  She sagged with exhaustion.  “Did Isa actually leave?”

“9 days ago.”  Bruno nodded.  “She took her friend Valeria and her brother.  I don’t think anyone else has figured out that they left yet.”

Mirabel snorted. “Could you imagine if this happened before everything?  The whole town would be in riot.”

“Your sister’s been doing a great job of avoiding everyone.  They probably think she’s just staying inside.  They’ll realize when Valeria’s parents start to worry.  But knowing the relationship they have, it'll take longer than most.”

“Yikes.”  Mirabel said, though without much actual worry since they were adults.

“We surround ourselves with broken people.  Makes us feel like we’re put together.”  Bruno mumbled.

“Okay poet master.”  She huffed.  Antonio had succumbed to sleep, still wrapped up in Mirabel’s hug.  “Can I-”

She paused.

“You can ask, you know?  I’ll never get mad at you for asking something.”

“The vision you had.  The one with me in front of Casita-”  She started.

Bruno seemed to shrink in on himself slightly.  “You found it…”

“Right before everything happened.”  She nodded.  Casita helpfully dropped the bag full of vision shards into their lap.

“Mirabel let me get one thing clear.  None of this was your fault.  Casita was cracking and the miracle was fading because of how the family was falling apart.  This was always going to happen.  The only thing you could have decided was whether we ever recovered from it.”

He began to rearrange the shards till they formed an image.  “I had this vision, after you didn’t get your gift.  Abuela was worried and I caved, I had a ‘no looking into the families future’ rule and I broke it for her.  But the vision was inconsistent.”

He tilted his head and she copied him.  When she looked from a different angle the cracks disappeared and Casita was whole again.

“What did it mean?”  She asked.

“From what I gathered, the family would fracture or it wouldn’t and you’d be in the middle of it.  And now, Casita fell.  But you brought her back with your choice to give Hearth a new host.  You would have sacrificed yourself to save the family even with how awful they were.  So the miracle was born again and Casita is whole, and maybe we can heal.”

“Do you think they’ll actually change?”  Mirabel looked at her uncle, worry etched in her face.

“If they bother to try?  Sure.  Isabella is already making an effort, so there is hope.”  He shrugged.

“She really regrets it?”  Mirabel hadn’t listened even as Hearth monitored the conversation from last week.

“I think so.  She certainly seemed to, and I have hope that she’ll figure it out.”  Bruno watched tears build up in Mirabel's eyes.

“I want my hermana back.”  She sobbed.  “I wanted so badly for things to go back to how they were before.  I missed my hermana mayor.  The lot of them strangled it out of her, and she didn’t stop them.”

Bruno hugged her tightly.  “She’ll come back.  And when she gets back, it’ll never be the same as it was before, but it can get better.  If you both want that back then I’m sure you can be sisters again.”

Mirabel nodded.  Sniffing, she rubbed her face free of tears.  “I think, I’m gonna go back to sleep Tio.”

“Alright.  We’ll be here when you’re ready to wake up.”  He promised.  “Take as long as you need.”

“Okay.”  She rested her head on his shoulder and slowly her breathing steadied out.

When Mirabel finally sat back up her eyes were gold again and Hearth blinked back into place.

“I’m worried.”  He admitted.

“She’ll be okay.”  Hearth promised, giving his shoulder a squeeze.  “We’ll make sure of it.”

Suddenly Hearth blinked a few times as if trying to focus on something that he couldn't sense.  “Somethings wrong.”

“What?  What's wrong?  With the family?  Isabella?”  He immediately snapped to concern.

“Luis.  They found out he was helping us.”  Hearth jumped to her feet and summoned her cloak to her hand before disappearing out of Casita.

“Mierda.”  Bruno stared at where Hearth had vanished.

Chapter Text

Luis had been careful for the past few weeks to ensure that no one found his new workshop.  He always insisted his padres knock, and checked before going through the door.  But his father had started to notice that things weren’t adding up.  The money was there and the groceries were in correct amounts, but there was no registry of the sale.  Luis had dodged the questions saying he couldn’t think of anyone buying those things while he manned the register.  

The confusion had turned to annoyance and then to anger.  His father was more and more focused on amounts and Luis had a heck of a time getting Hearth’s order together.

Finally though he closed the baskets and made his way to his bedroom window.  Slipping out he carried the baskets up the hill where he set the baskets down.  They would return to his workshop in the morning and the money had come with the list.

Luis began sneaking back home and when he reached his window he carefully climbed back inside.  Hurrying to his bed to feign sleep he wasn’t expecting his father and brother to wrench his bedroom door open and force their way in.

“Luis Manuel Gonzalo, what were you doing?”  His father demanded and Luis caught a glimpse of his mother and hermanita outside in the hall.

“Papa- I”  He fumbled trying to think.

“Stealing?  From your own family!”  His father seethed and his older brother glared at him.

“I didn’t steal, the money is in the tin already, you can count.  There's even extra!”  He insisted.  He would never steal, not from his parents.

“And who pray tell, is paying for these things you take?”  His older brother, Dario, asked with anger clear in his voice.

“No one!  It’s- I”  He cursed himself for not coming up with a better lie.

“No one?”  His father said angrily.  “No one is buying our groceries and giving you money for them?  You aren’t one to lie Luis, we’ve raised you better.”

“Luis, tell the truth.  Who are you taking groceries to?”  His Mama said earnestly from her place in the hall, holding little Sofi who was beginning to cry from all the yelling.  No no, he didn’t want Sofi to cry.

But he couldn’t tell the truth either.

“Mama- Papi- I can’t.”

“Is someone pressuring you, threatening you?”  His father asked, anger quickly switching to worry.

“No!  No Papa she wouldn’t-”  Luis cursed himself.

“She?  She who?  Who is telling you to lie?  To steal from your own-”  Luis watched in horror as his padre’s eyes widened with realization.

“Papa I-”  He tried.

“That demon got to you.”  It was no question.

“She’s not a demon!  She isn’t evil if people would just-”  Luis broke, tears streamed down his face.  “Just listen!  She’s the same miracle that Senor Madrigal died for.  She’s just trying to protect Mirabel!”

“That demon got to you!”  His father repeated, and his mama burst into tears and Dario’s eyes filled with terror.

Suddenly he was being dragged from his house and he cried out in panic.  The grip on his arm was too tight to loose from.

“Papi listen, Dar-  Listen to me!”  Luis pleaded.  People began peeking out trying to figure out what was causing the commotion.  Luis’s breathing picked up more at all the eyes on him.

He vaguely noticed they were being dragged towards the church.  They were probably going to try and perform an exorcism, he had no idea what the village would do when it didn’t work.

In desperation he kicked the back of his father’s knee who cried out in pain and loosened his hold.  Luis turned to run and made it a few feet before pain exploded across his face and he fell down.  Someone just punched him.  He heard a shuffle above him and he looked up to see Dario holding the man who hit him off the ground, slamming him against a wall.

“Don’t you dare hurt my hermanito!”  Dario raged.

Someone picked him up and he vaguely registered it was his father.  They were still headed to the church.

“We’ll save you mijo.  We’ll save you.  It’s not your fault, and your brother is going to make him regret hurting you.  We’ll get you back to yourself.”

Luis gripped his dads shirt and felt tears coming back to his eyes.  They really did care, they thought he was in danger but they just didn’t understand.  They weren't doing this to hurt him and they didn’t hate him for it.

He didn’t fight too much after that.  He tried to run when his papi put him down but they just forced him into a seat as mama explained to the priest.  His fathers shoulder were heavy on his shoulder keeping him in his seat.

Dario arrived a minute later, blood on his face and hands clearly showing the fight he had been in.  He just looked worried though when he caught sight of Luis.

The process of an exorcism was frankly terrifying, he was confused and he just squeezed his eyes shut and tried to focus on his dads hands to ground him.  It was too loud, there were so many voices, other people brushed by him and he didn’t dare look to see who it was.

Tears streamed down his face.

Suddenly there was a loud bang and even from behind his eyelids he could tell that the room flooded with light.  Someone else touched him and he gasped as someone pulled him away from his father and he was wrapped in someone's arms.

“I’ve got you mageling.”  A familiar voice said and Hearth's warmth washed over him.

He sobbed in relief as the sounds faded and he buried his face in the fabric of Hearth’s cloak.

“ Let this be a warning.  This mage is under my protection.  I am no demon, I am magic given form.  And I will protect what is mine with the ferocity of the fires I was made from, do not test this vow. ”  And darkness washed over him fully and he got the impression of moving very quickly and suddenly he was sinking to his knees.

“-th what happened?  Is he okay?”  Someone asked worriedly.

“He’ll be okay.  He’s mostly overwhelmed.”  Hearth’s familiar voice was warm and he leaned further into her shoulder and began to shake with relief.  A hand met his cheek and gently tried to guide his face free.  “Just for a second mageling.  I need to fix that shiner.”

Shiner?  Oh right, when that guy punched him.

“Someone hit him?”  The other person said worriedly.

“Stranger.”  He croaked out.  “Dar- Dar got mad when- punched me.  Dar beat him up for- for hurting me.”

“His brother protected him.”  Hearth explained.  “Please mageling, I gotta heal you.”

Reluctantly Luis let his face be pulled from Hearth's shoulder.  He caught sight of a man in green who he guessed was Bruno Madrigal looking at him with concern.  A finger grazed his eye and the pain faded away.

“There you go, I don’t sense anything else.”  Hearth guided his face so he could hide it again.

It felt like they were moving again and Hearth leaned back a bit.

“Just breathe mageling.  You're okay now.  Just breathe.”  Hearth said calmly.  “With me, okay?”

She exaggerated her breathing and he could feel the rise and fall of her chest.  Slowly he got his breaths back to a semi normal pace.  The shaking hadn’t subsided.

“Can you talk to us mageling?”  Hearth asked, voice calm as she rubbed soothing circles into his back.

“They found- found out that I was taking food, and they thought I was stealing.  They were mad and then I slipped up and my papa figured out who I was bringing it to.  They were taking me so the priest could perform an exorcism and when I tried to get loose a man punched me.  I don’t know who it was but Dario looked ready to kill him for hitting me.  I was scared what would happen when they completed the exorcism, since nothing would happen.”

He lifted his head slightly to rub at the tears still on his face.  Senor Madrigal sat next to them leaning against a wall, Hearth kept an arm around him both looking at him in concern.

“They probably couldn’t have done much.  My parents wouldn’t let anyone hurt me.  And Dar came back with blood on his fists so I doubt he’d let anything else happen.”

“But they did scare you.”  Bruno pointed out.

“I think- if I had a kid and I thought he was possessed… I don’t think I’d react much differently.  They weren't doing it to scare me, if anything I think my family was just as scared as I was.”  He shrugged.  “Oh gosh, they’re probably worried sick.”

“I don’t think now is the best time to go back…”  Hearth said, tilting her head to listen to the arguments.  Sure enough Luis’ parents sounded on the brink of feral as the accusations being thrown at their son.

“No.  Maybe I can send them a letter though..?”  He asked hopefully.

“Yeah, we’ll send Pico with one.  Do you wanna write it now?”  Hearth asked and Luis nodded enthusiastically.

Hearth summoned paper and Bruno left to make tea- and pour himself a glass of wine- while Luis sat down in the living room to write his letter.  It took two papers being thrown in the fire before he handed Hearth a complete letter.

She gave a sharp whistle and the toucan he had gotten all the lists from flew from Antonio’s room and landed on her arm.

“Take this to his parents?  Okay?”  She asked and the bird took the letter in its peak, nodded once, and flew off.

Hearth tapped her cheek in thought as Bruno returned with a tray of tea.  She took the mug before seeming to decide something.

“Luis, you helped us out a lot this last month, you went above and beyond and it's because of my request you were hurt and put under duress.  I’m sorry.”  Hearth said, taking a sip of her drink before setting it back down on the table.

“It wasn’t your fault.”  Luis insisted.  “I agreed, and I don’t regret my decision.  And you came to save me when I was in trouble.”

“Still, you're now stuck here until the village is done demonizing me.”  She let her hands glow.  “I think you deserve something for your trouble.  And I am sorry whether you think I should be or not.”

“I don’t need-”  Lusi started but Bruno just shook his head.

“No point in arguing, she’s already decided she’s giving you something.”  He said fondly.

“Let's see…”  Hearths hands glowed more and she started forming the light in her hands.

She wove the strands of light together and the reaction grew large and larger.  The light formed long lean legs and a tail, big ears pointed from the top of its head.  Luis gasped as the light solidified into a canine with reddish-gold fur and a black streak running down its back.  Its eyes flickered open, glowing with magic.

A familiar.

The maned wolf shook out its fur and sniffed the air before turning and walking up to Luis who dropped to his knees on the ground to meet it.

“Whats- Whats their name?”  He asked running a hand over the canine's fur.

“She doesn’t have one yet, I made her specifically for you.  She’ll strengthen your magic and protect you.”  Hearth nodded.

The familiar rested her head in his palm and he experimentally reached up to scratch her behind the ears, to which she rumbled with appreciation.

“Hola.  Can I name you?”  He asked, he knew familiars had their own thoughts and feelings.

The maned wolf nodded shortly and licked his hands as confirmation.

“Alright.  Your name is Daria.”  He decided.

“ I like that name. ”  Said Daria through their newly formed bond, her voice smooth and calm.  “ It’s nice to meet you, my mage. ”

“It’s really nice to meet you too.”  Luis smiled.

Chapter Text

The house seemed to accommodate after that.  A guest room had formed between Antonio’s and Hearth’s, the room plain but functional.  And Luis’s workshop, and everything he had left in there moved with it.  He tended to curl up in a chair with one of his grandfather's spellbooks, Daria resting her head on his lap.

The teen fit well into their strange group dynamic.  He tended to listen more than talk, like a sponge desperate to soak up as much information as he could.  Antonio had taken a liking to Daria and spent long periods of time asking the familiar different questions.  Most of which she could not answer, but both would listen to the child talk about whatever he was thinking about.  Whenever Bruno set up one of his rat-novelas Luis would watch with wrapped attention.

But he clearly got along with Hearth best of all.  The teen had a great skill for getting the entity to start explaining anything and everything to do with magic.  She usually was seen with an amused expression as she told stories of the world forming and miracles she had performed in the past.  Blessings and curses she had placed upon the worthy before.

Often he would rope her into helping him learn a spell.  This usually ended with Bruno walking in to find Luis sans eyebrows and Hearth laughing madly as they sat in the explosive results.  Daria tended to bound off as soon as she sensed the spell going south and would sit smugly outside the blast range tail swishing, licking her unmarred fur.

He would scold both and separate them to discourage repeats which only lasted until they distracted him and met up to try again.

Daria had begun to go find Bruno whenever the two began working on something.  While he was the only one who couldn’t talk to the familiar, her too human body language was enough to convey her messages.

“You two will be the death of me.”  He said, looking at the two who were sitting on the ground of Luis’ workshop.  Hearth was making the soot stains and any injuries disappear with a wave of her hand.

Luis however was wholly distracted at something in his palms.

Cupped in his palms he held a tiny ball of light.  Both stayed quiet to let him focus, Daria walked over to her mage and circled him feeding her own magic into the spell.  Ever careful he spread his hands and the light grew with it.  Purple wisps escaping the ball every now and then.

“Focus, shape it.”  Hearth said, previous humor replaced by a serious gaze.

 Luis took a deep breath and nodded.  Expanding the ball a little further he tossed it in the air where it exploded outwards into a thousand stars of light.

The group grinned even as the spell faded.

“Nice work kid.”  Hearth said.  “You always go back to the stars huh?”

“I like them.”  Luis said sheepishly.

“That was great Luis.”  Bruno cut in.  “But could I ask a favor?”

They both looked at him

“Can you learn, I don’t know, water before you start on fire magic?”

They both laughed, and Daria scrunched her face at the idea of getting her fur wet.

+x+

“Hey.”

Luis looked over, he had been sitting on Casita’s roof charting the stars, Daria sleeping back in his room.  He knew it was one of the clearest nights to see the planets as well.  His notebook lay open next to him, drawings and charts filling the pages.

“I thought everyone went to sleep.”  Luis said quickly as Hearth sat next to him.  “Did I wake you up?”

“Nah I chose to wake up today.  I hadn’t gotten to meet you really.”  She shrugged.

Oh, this wasn’t Hearth, was it.

“Mirabel?”  He wanted to be sure.

“Yeah.  I wanna be awake more but sometimes it's easier to… not.”  She shrugged, sitting next to him and pulling her knees to her chest.  “M’ sorry ‘bout your family.  You probably miss them.”

“Yeah I do.  My little sister probably doesn't know what's going on but my parents and brother weren’t mad, they were just scared!  I doubt me being missing is helping that any.”  He made a little light ball and rolled it between his fingers.

“What's your brother like?  You clearly care a lot about him, you even named your familiar after him.”  Mirabel looked at him, chin resting on her knees.

“He’s- very protective of Sofia and I.  We have such a big age gap, he was 9 when I was born and already 18 when Sof was.  We have such big age gaps between us but we stayed close.  He understood how fragile we were as babies and I don’t think he ever quite let that go.”

“He sounds like a good big brother.”  Mriabel tried not to think about how damaged her relationship with her sisters is.

“He is.  He loved Sofia and will drop just about anything when she comes to ask him to play.  He once sat for 3 hours while she made him play dress up and have a tea party, no complaints.  And whenever I’m having a bad day he always shows up with whatever treat he found at the bakery and talks about meaningless stuff until I feel better.”  Luis really missed Dario’s long rants.

“Did he- I know your parents weren't too enthused about your love of magic but how’d he take it all?”  She gestured with her hands.

“He never resented it.  I think he didn’t understand why I found it so interesting but he never discouraged it.  I think so long as I didn’t hurt myself he was okay with whatever made me happy.”  Luis thought back.  “Once, when I was still little, I spilled a cup of water on one of the books my grandfather left.  The pages were all so fragile.  When Dar found me crying he carefully copied all the pages I soaked by hand so if they didn’t dry I could still read them.  It must have taken hours but he did it without hesitation.”

“I’m glad you had someone to look out for you.”  Mirabel nodded.

“What about you?”  Lusi asked.  “I know that some people weren't very nice after the whole…”

“My ceremony.”  She nodded.  “I’ll be honest, I didn’t think any of them ever seemed to notice.  No one ever stepped in to defend me, even when they were right there.  Then when Lu pushed me away and Isa started- being unkind, I thought, maybe I’m the problem.  Maybe no one defends me because it’s my fault.  It took a long time to realize it wasn’t.”

“It wasn’t.”  Luis agreed.

“Yeah.  What they did was wrong.  All of them.”  Mirabel sounded more sure of herself than he thought she ever had been before.  “And now I have Tio back, he was willing to suffer to keep me safe.  And Tonito, he always hated when people were rude.  And Hearth.”

“And me.”  He offered.  “If you want I’d fight for you.”

She smiled.  “I think I’d like that.”

“Then consider it done.  You’ve got a mage to scare off any bullies with my flashy lights.”  He joked, making his spell flash before extinguishing it.

“How fortunate I am.”  Mirabel laughed.  “What are you doing up here anyways?”

He pulled his notebook over so she could see.

“I wanted to chart the night's stars.  Even if people don’t notice, they move every night, I think it's amazing.  Look, you can only see that constellation at this time of year, in another few weeks it will have left the horizon till next year.”  He pointed at the different stars in his notebook.

“Where is it, I can’t see?”  She looked back to the sky.

Luis held up his hand and leaned over, “Look between my pointer and middle finger, that's the star at the top, here.  And follow it this way you find the next one.”  He dragged his hand towards the next star.

“‘Cool.”  Mirabel whispered.  It made Luis acutely aware of how much he was in her personal space.Leaning away as casually as he could manage Luis moved on to pointing out the next star.

+x+

The next morning Hearth was back.  She gave Luis a look he didn’t know how to decipher before moving on.

Chapter Text

At some point they were going to have to face the music.  Hearth was pretty close to all powerful, but the delicate balance that had been maintained in the house on the hill now was severely strained.

It had been almost half a year since Casita has both fallen and been restored.  Mirabel was more frequently awake now, seemingly having at least processed most of her trauma.  Bruno was finally starting to accept when people said things weren’t his fault, and he was no longer in danger of being fully in-humane.  Antonio had developed a strong sense of self assurance and the ability to say no.  And Luis was getting stronger in his magic by the day.

They were going to have to face the rest of the Encanto at some point but not yet.  Not yet.

+x+

Mirabel was making herself a new skirt.  Still in waves of blue in teal but the images of her family were replaced with more things she felt represented her.  Butterflies, flames, fireworks, in all her favorite colors.  Still Hourglasses and Jaguars managed to make it onto the hem.  If there were a few constellations added too, only she would know.

She tied off the ends of the embroidery and took a step back to admire her work.  Deeming it good for now she decided to switch her current skirt for her newly finished one.  She had to ensure everything she wanted seen would be visible when the garment was on.

Looking in the mirror she twirled slightly to see if the movement felt right.  The skirt was suitably swishy, she decided. 

When a knock came to the door of her new room (New room!  All Hers!!  Hearth had made her dozens of spaces to practice her craft and Mirabel couldn’t be more overjoyed!) Mirabel quickly hurried over from her mirror to see who it was.

“Wow!  Your skirt looks beautiful!”  Antonio cheered, he and Luis were standing there Daria and Parce beside them.

“It really does look great.”  Luis added, smiling.

“Thanks, I think I have a few more tweaks to make before I’ll call it done, but I’m glad I already have such high approval.”  She said, making a list of things she still wanted to add in her head.  “So what's up with you two.”

“We wanna have a picnic.  Will you come?”  Antonio asked.

“Sure thing Tonito, just give me a second to change.”

She didn’t want to risk her new skirt getting ruined before she even finished it.  Selecting a navy blue plain skirt instead she changed and slipped on her shoes.

She found the duo in the kitchen, Antonio trying to decide what to bring and Luis looking concerned at the food combinations the child was picking.

“Best to just let him pick,”  She whispered.  “The puppy dog pout is unbeatable.”

“Agreed.”  Luis nodded.

“Where Tio Bruno?”  She asked.

“He’s napping, we didn’t want to wake him.”  Luis said, shrugging.

“Oh definitely not.”  Heaven knows the struggle to get him to sleep.

The trio, plus Daria and Parce, all marched out the door and began looking for a suitable place in the forest to set up.  Parce sniffed the ground and growled something that Antonio translated as “I know a place.”

The place he meant was a stone quarry along the river.  It had plenty of spots to climb both rocks and trees, and the water flowing was a nice background noise.  Lunch was a quiet affair.  Small conversations and stories told between bites, mostly the group was just enjoying the peace and quiet.

Parce and Daria, who got along better than anticipated, were playing chase around through the brush.  Daria huffing annoyed whenever the big cat jumped into a tree she couldn’t reach, and would pace around the base huffing and glaring till Parce jumped out of the tree again.

Antonio was playing in the shallows of the river, having removed his shoes and was picking out shining rocks from the river bed.  Luis was leaning against a rock, sketching away in his notebook.  Mirabel was currently climbing a tree, careful of her skirt as she made her way up.  Finally reaching her desired spot she sat down and looked out at the view.

“There’s a waterfall at the end now.”  She called out, “I can see the mist rising up.”

“Make sense, hearth did wildly change the geographic features when she moved Casita.”  Luis called up.

“Guess so, we should go see it in a bit.  Could be cool.”  Mirabel decided before resting her head against the tree's trunk.  She had a great view of the village from here.

She was way too far to see anyone specific but the colorful stands in the market were pretty clear.  Hearth had apparently been frustrated that her prescription was off and had started correcting her vision just because.  Mirabel wasn’t particularly bothered but she liked her glasses so Hearth also switched the lenses to be regular glass.  Now she could wake up without having to be blind until she felt around for ehr frames.

They all spent a little longer just enjoying each other's quiet company.  Finally Antonio gave a loud yawn.

“Alright Tonito, let's get you back so you can sleep.”  Mirabel slid down to the branch below her and began making her way down the tree.

Once she was down on the ground, Antonio had put his shows back on, and Luis had backed up the picnic, they began walking back towards the house.  They found the path more clear than when they first came through.  Hearth tended to try and make their lives easier even when Mirable was awake, the magic entity always present even when their host was driving.

As they approached the house they became aware of some noise from the cliff's edge.

“You bring him in, I’ll see what it is.”  Lusi said, handing her the picnic basket and retucking his notebook under his arm.

“You sure?”  She raised an eyebrow in concern

“Yeah, it’ll be fine.  Not many people are dumb enough to try and climb the cliff.”

“Just my sister.”  Mirabel nodded.

“I think that was more desperation.”  Luis waved his hand in a so-so manner.

“Meh-  Come one Toni, nap time.”  She took the 5 year olds hand and returned to the sentiate house.

Luis turned his attention to the front of the house, walking to the cliff face and peering over.

“Hey little bro!”  Dario called up, clearly happy to see him.  “I was getting worried, I’ve been here for 10 minutes and heard nothing.”

“Hermano what are you doing?”  Luis asked, humor overwhelming concern because it was such a Dario thing to do.  Stand at the bottom of a cliff for 10 minutes and yell until someone comes to talk to him.

“I wanted to check on you.  It’s been two weeks and we’ve heard nothing.  Mama and Papa wanted to give you space but they’re clearly still panicked.  They kind of started on the warpath after you left.”  Dario looked exceedingly proud.

“They did what?”  Luis looked incredulous at his big brother.

“Well the exorcism did jack all but the priest insisted he did it right.  So Papa went to find the books he still had from Abuelo?  There was a lot of stuff that didn’t line up so he went to talk to Senora Madrigal to try and get the full story, and well…  Yeah Mama may have tried to slap her.”

Luis burst out in laughter.  Most people underestimated his Mama’s temper, and her arm strength.  She carried around the stock with the rest of them and was unwilling to take multiple trips to move anything.  Her right hook was mean, as seen by anyone who tried to hurt her kids.

“Anyways, once we knew what happened everything you were talking about made sense.  They want to apologize and so do I, but we didn’t want to bug you after we messed up so thoroughly.  But I thought letting it sit any longer would be worse.  I’m sorry hermanito.  We should have listened and done the research instead of jumping to conclusions.  But we wanna fix it if you'll let us.”

Luis smiled, eyes slightly wet.  “Yeah.  I’d really like that.”

“We will make it up to you.”  Dario nodded seriously.  “And the magic, and Mirabel, and Senor Bruno.  We turned a blind eye to a lot because we assumed Senora Alma knew what she was talking about.  I’m starting to think you're the only one who knows anything about any of this.”

“So what happened after that?”  Luis asked.

“Well, a fair amount of people had seen the exorcism do nothing.  So there were already whispers about what that might mean.  So when Mama loudly told the first person who asked about you what really happened rumors started spreading fast.  I think the majority still believe the Madrigals that this is a demon and that they are being wronged, but there's doubt spreading.  And Mama and Papa are refusing to sell to anyone who speaks bad about you or anyone here.”

Seeing as their family had the majority of everyday goods that probably was taking a hit on everyone.  Sure there were other butchers and bakeries, and the farmers sold their produce directly, but Mama and Papa were still going to.

“How's Sofi handling everything?”  He was still worried about her.

“Not… great.  She doesn’t understand why you're not at home or why people are saying rude things.  I’ve been watching her more while Mama wages war and Papa cheers her on.  I think they have the Ramirez, Gomez, and Santos families firmly on their side…”

“Oh gosh the Gomez’s are not ones to mess with.  I imagine that's making waves.”  The family was big, really big, and many of the elders in the family were here when the Encanto was first formed.

“Oh yeah.  Senora Gabriella was fuming since her son and daughter left with Senora Isabella apparently.  They left a note and Gabriella is furious that they blamed her kids for Isabella choosing to leave.  She firmly said good for her, and her husband is refusing anyone who tries to come to their clinic.”  Senor Gomex ran the only Veterinary clinic in the Encanto.

“Wow.”  Lusi sat down hard at the idea of how much had changed.  Unfortunately he forgot about his notebook as it slid from under his arm and fell.  Luis tried to catch it but it slid off the side of the cliff before he could.

Dario caught it on instinct.  “Got it!  I got- I.  Little bro…”

“Give that back!”  He demanded.

Dario grinned evilly, “Is this a drawing of who I think it is?”

“No!  Will you shut up, close that.”

“I’m assuming it's actually her and not the-”

“Yes Dar- you got it in one.  Congrats.  Now shut that and your mouth.”  What was that summoning spell?

“Fine.  Fine.”  He shut the book.  “I won't say anything about it.  Mama won't shut up about a daughter-in-law if I do.  I’m saving us both here.”

Finally remembering what to do Luis summoned the book back to his hand.  His familiar trotted up behind him at the notice of him using magic.

“Um little bro, what's that?”  Dario asked.

“This is my familiar, Hearth gave her to me.”  Luis ran a hand over the maned wolf's fur.

“Great- what's that?”  He looked frustrated.

“She’s a magical companion.  She helps me do magic and keeps me safe.  Her name is Daria.”

His brother started crying.

Chapter Text

Hearth had been making less and less frequent appearances.  Mirabel had seemed to accept everything that happened and was ready to move on and grow.  Anyone who looked could tell she was starting to miss the full family being around.  The house was more quiet than she was used to but she didn’t want anyone here until they figured out what they did wrong.

A little bit of respite came when Luis’s parents marched up to the house and apologized to all of them.  For never noticing how bad the village treated them and for never stepping in before.  They both swore to keep fighting till everyone knew they had to apologize.  Mirabel and Bruno had looked bewildered at the blatant distaste of how they were treated.  Luis was so happy.

Now they came over for tea once a week.  Sofia and Antonio had gotten on like a house on fire and she could often be seen chasing him through the house and neighboring woods.  Dario often would wander back in with both kids slung over his shoulders like sacks of potatoes, both giggling madly.

The Gonzalo’s had decided that Daria would be spoiled rotten and the maned wolf trotted up happily to them to receive pets and treats.

The whole of the Gomez family appeared in the next week to apologize as well and assure them that all of their family's shops and stores were happy to welcome them.  Needless to say 14 adults and 12 teens up and apologizing had also been a shock.  Cecilia and Juancho had been ecstatic to see their favorite Madrigal again and had practically tackled the teen to hug her.

The Raimirez family showed up the day after and the Santos’ soon after, all of them had come as soon as they knew the group was willing to hear their apologies.  Alejandra was just as excited to see Mirabel again and jumped with joy at their reunion.  Now the three kids would show up at random intervals to see if Mirabel and Antonio were free to play.

At the moment they were exploring the waterfall.  They had found the base of the thing to be deep and could swim and even cliff dive.  The kids were jumping off small ledges while Mirabel floated on her back in her new swimsuit enjoying the sound of falling water.  Whenever one of the kids swam too close she would dive under and tickle them from below the water, causing them to giggle madly and she would have to keep them from sinking.

“How's the water?”  Luis called the edge.

“It’s great!”  She called.  “You joining in?”

“Uhh… I don't think so.  I just came to tell you lunch is ready in half an hour.  Mama insisted on making it though so I have no idea what it is.”  He said as she swam back over to the edge.

“Alright ninos!  Round up!”  Mirabel called and the kids all groaned at having to stop the fun.

“Mama is making enough lunch for all of you.”  Luis added and that hastened their movements to get out and dry.  Easy way to get kids to do what you want will always be bribery.

Luis handed her a towel as she got out and Mirabel took it gratefully, while it was warm there was a slight wind making being soaked bothersome.  She shook out her curls to dislodge as much water as possible.  Luis made an annoyed sound as he was hit with the water droplets.

“Off to lunch.”  She cheered, pulling on her coverup and shoving on her shoes.

“Off to lunch.”  Luis agreed.

+x+

A third of the village were okay with her now.  Both Hearth and Mirabel.  The tension was thicker than mashed potatoes in the town.  But Mirabel wasn’t one to shy from a challenge.  So when one of Antonio’s coatis got sick she steeled her resolve and marched down the steps Hearth had made for them.

If someone who wasn’t welcome tried to walk up them they would get a nasty shock as the stairs would vanish when they were a third of the way up.

Mirabel had tucked the coati in a basket with soft blankets and Antonio was holding her hand looking nervous.  He was determined not to leave his friend or prima alone.  Parce had to stay behind because he was too big to go most places in the village.  Infact Casita had to make most of her doors larger as the jaguar had grown far larger than normal.  No one doubted it was one of Hearths little flares.

Bruno had elected to stay back and ensure no one tried anything while the pair were out.  Luis was behind them intending to visit his parents while the duo were with the vet.  Daria trotted beside him proudly, with her head held high and alert to protect her mage id necessary.  But mostly inclined to see Luis’ mama to be spoiled with treats.

The whispers started as soon as someone caught sight of them.  Several people ran back into their houses or off towards town to presumably warn others.  Antonio didn’t like the eyes on him and clung to Mirabel’s hand tighter, she gave it a little squeeze in response.  Luis buried his hand in Daria’s fur to comfort himself, her mane of black fur soft and grounding.

Once they entered the town proper there was a mix of staring and running.  Several families grabbed their younger members and went inside.  Others would just back away but have their eyes trained on the group.

Mirabel walked with her head high, new skirt swishing around her ankles.  She would not be scarred, she would be brave and walk like she belonged because she did.  She would not falter.

The tragedy of the vet's office being on the far side of the village was more and more apparent.  Entering the town plaza Mirabel took a deep breath, she knew what was about to come, she didn’t even need Tio to tell her.

“Mirabel-”  Julieta’s voice cracked at seeing her daughter.  A hand was at her mouth.  “Are you-?”

“Si, I’m Mirabel.  Hearth is taking a break, and fair warning she’s cranky when you wake her up abruptly so don’t make me bring her out.”  Mirabel’s eyes narrowed.

She had to be confident.  She had to show that she was the one with the power here.  It stung in her heart that she was being so rude but if she faltered now they would lose so much progress.

“What are you doing?”  Alma- not Abuela, never Abuela- asked, distrust and anger apparent in her voice.

“Going to the vet.”  She said shortly.  “Excuse me.”

“Don’t you dare turn away from me.”  Alma’s frustration breaking through.  “You owe us an explanation.”

Before Mirabel could say anything she felt and hand on her shoulder, Luis gave it a squeeze and she had never seen him look that pissed before.  “Actually she owes you jack shit.  We are minding our own business, you should do the same.”

“How dare you.  Insolent Child.”  Alma fumed.

“How dare you Insolent Bitch.”  Luis said before turning away.  Mirabel followed him, they turned the corner leaving the Madrigals behind, Luis continued to fume.

“She has no right-”

“Luis”

“-The most entitled-”

“Luis.”

“-Fault and yet she insists-”

“Luis!”

“I swear if she tries anything I’m gonna-”  He was abruptly cut off from his ranting as Mirabel pressed a kiss to his cheek.

“Thanks for standing up for me.”  She smiled at him, and gave him a hug.

Luis seemed to be broken so she just took his hand in her free one and kept walking till they reached the vet.  Antonio just looked between the two confused.

“Go see your parents.”  She patted his cheek and went inside leaving Luis alone with Antonio.

“You hurt her, I'm feeding you to my boa.  Alive.”  Antonio said calmly before following Mirabel in.

+x+

Dario was sitting at his desk when his door was suddenly wrenched open and his hermanito charged in and dove face first onto his bed and screamed into the pillow.

“You okay?”  he asked.

Luis responded by screaming again.

“Bro?”  Dario nudged him with a foot.

Daria trotted in looking as smug as a dog could manage.

“Antonio’s gonna feed me to his snake if I hurt her.”  Luis moaned into the pillow.

“What?”  Wait- What happened!”  Dario began shaking his brother for answers but Luis just screamed into his pillow more.  “I have to know!  Lu!”

+x+

A week later found Antonio sitting outside Señora Gomez’s shop with Cecilia sitting across from him as they played checkers.

“Is he good to her?”  Cecilia asked.

“I think so-  But he’s pretty nice to everyone.  Except Abuela but I don’t like that Puta either.”  Antonio swung his legs on the table.

Señora Gomez looked up.  “Antonio, where'd you learn that word?”

Antonio looked up at her insolently but mischief sparking in his eyes.  “Dario.”

She just huffed a laugh and mumbled something about how she shouldn’t be surprised

“Hmmm… mama says whenever Papi brings her flowers he’s ‘treating her right’ does he bring her flowers?”  Cecilia asked before jumping two of his pieces.

“Not that I know of…”  Antonio thought about it.

“Antonio!”

The child in question shrunk a little bit.  His mama and papa were running over.

“Mijo, how are you okay?  Are you hurt?”  Pepa went to pick him up but before he could fully lean away Señora Gomez was between them.  Cecilia got up and pushed him behind her as well.

“Back off.”  Señora Gomez said deceptively calm.

“That's my son!”  Pepa insisted, Felix was openly glaring at the woman.

“Really?  Because last I checked you shoved him off on your sobrina to raise.”  She looked unimpressed.

“I- mama said that it was what’s best.”  She tried to push past her but Señora Gomez was firm.

“You were 45 and you still listened to your Mama when she told you not to raise your own child?  That's on you.  Both of you.”  Señora Gomez glarred.

“We had jobs to do.”  Felix interjected.

“Your first job should have been and should always be parent.  It’s not a bonus at the end of the day that you have a child.  It’s your first priority.  If you can’t handle that then you shouldn’t have had children.  Fuck off before I call for his real mama and her fiery friend.”  Señora Gomez glared with a force that would make anyone wilt.

“Don’t-”  Pepa tried to push past again.

“Get away from my store and don’t come back.”  Señora Gomez said finally, directing both kids inside and slamming the door behind her.’

The kids just shrugged and sat down on the floor, falling back into their conversation as if there were no interruption.

+x+

“You should buy Mirable flowers.”  Antonio told Luis firmly when he got home.

Luis just looked at him for a second before deciding.  “Yeah.  I should.”

Mirabel woke up the next morning to find about 5 bouquets of flowers outside her door.  Along with a note that said “I wasn’t sure which you would like so I got them all.”  She laughed and tucked one of the flowers behind her ear.

+x+

Bruno really didn’t want to be in the village.  At all.  But he had a vision and no one was available to deliver the news.  The Gonzalo’s store had a candle burning in it that was going to tip over in about ten minutes and burn half their stock.  Seeing as the family had been their primary advocates he knew he had to go tell them.

Ducking between houses, hood up and avoiding anyone who passed he was almost there when he was caught.

“You.”  Someone growled.

Katherine and Juan Marquez were glaring at him.  They had never gotten over him predicting their son breaking his leg in an accident.  Despite his warnings the boy had gone off to explore a sinkhole and fallen in.  He was lucky he only got a broken leg and nothing worse.

“You really are back.”  Juan glared at him and Bruno shrunk a little.  It was easier to be confident when he knew what was happening and that Hearth was backing him.  He had no idea if Mirabel was nearby or if Hearth was awake enough to do anything.

“I’m just trying to-”  he tried to leave only for the vision tablet snatched from his hand.

“You're gonna burn down their store?  After everything they’ve done to help you.”  Katherine seethed.

“No I’m trying to-”  He tried but they just shoved him back.  Was he really going to have to pull out his magic for this?

“Hey back off!”  Someone grabbed the two and pushed them away while someone else pulled him up.

Actually, paying attention it was a group of teens a little older than Mirabel.  He recognized the one who shoved them away as Martin Raimirez.  His cousin Gabriella was helping him up while Kain and Abelia Lopes were glaring at the couple.

“We're trying to stop him from-”  Kaherine gestured with the tablet which Kain snatched from her hand.

“I highly doubt Senor Madrigal was going to do anything.  Go, don’t bother him again.”  Abelia hissed while Kain looked at the tablet.

“What's gonna happen?”  He asked.

“Candle will fall over- 5 minutes.”  He stuttered out still reeling from the angry teens defending him.

“On it.”  Kain ran off after handing him back the glass pane.

“He’ll handle it.”  Abelia nodded before turning back to the couple.  “Why are you still here?”

“I- what-”  They made several nonsensical statements before Martin shook his head.

“Come on Senor.  We’ll walk you wherever you're headed so no one else tries anything.”  Martin smiled.

“Uh thanks.”  He was fully intending to just go back to Casita since the fire would be avoided.

The little entourage marched with him back towards the sentient house.

“Why were they harassing you?”  Gabriella asked conversationally.

“Bad vision from a few years ago.”  Bruno mumbled.

“What a bunch of Idiots.”  Gabriella rolled her eyes.

Bruno laughed a little at the bluntness.  The teens talked about whatever came to mind for most of the walk asking his opinion on different random unimportant things.

“Thank you.  Again.”  He said again as they reached the steps up to the house.

Abelia shook her head.  “You don't need to thank us for being decent people.  If anything we should thank you.”

Bruno raised an eyebrow.  “For what?”

“You're the reason my brother and I are alive, Senor.  When Mama went into premature labor you sent Señora Julieta with food in the middle of the night.  You saved our lives and hers.  We don’t forget stuff like that.”  She insisted.  “If you need any help, with anything, you can come find any of us.  We won’t mind helping.”

“Thank you.”  He was stunned.  People rarely remembered the good visions over the bad.

“Have a good day, Sneor Madrigal.”  The trio waved and headed back to whatever they were doing before.

+x+

Mirabel was fawning over the fabric in Mathias Santos’ shop Mirabel was distracted when the bell above the door jingled.  A woman went straight to the counter and began asking for a custom dress from the tailor, who looked at her blinking slowly.

He wrote down her request and went to grab some fabric swatches from the back to let her choose.  Leaving Mirabel and the woman alone.

She looked around and her eyes caught on the teen.  She shrieked in fear and threw something at Mirabel, which soaked her dress.  Mirabel sputtered as it hit her face.

“Okay-”  She was too shocked to react but she felt Hearth writhe in anger.

“Out demon!”  The woman screamed.

“What's wrong?”  Mathias reappeared from the back taking in Mirabel wiping her face of water.

“Get that demon away from me!”  The woman screamed.

“Ma’am if you don’t stop screaming at my other customers I will be forced to ask you to leave.” He said, sounding tired.

When she continued to scream at Mirabel, Mathias just sighed and picked the woman up, which only made her scream more.  He dropped her outside and tossed her order at her.  “Get your dress somewhere else.  You're not welcome here.”

Mirabel blinked as he returned to his spot behind the counter.

“You okay?”  He asked, sitting back on his stool.

“Yeah.  I think she threw holy water at me.”  She used her handkerchief to soak up some of the water in her dress.  “Thank you.  For that.”

“You deserve it kid.  You're this community's shining beacon of hope.  Always were.  Don’t ever let anyone tell you otherwise.”  Mathias said, like it was obvious.

“Thank you.”  She said, face now wet with happy tears instead.

Chapter Text

Mirabel didn’t remember falling asleep but if this was anything other than a dream she’d eat her shirt.  It looked a little like her room.  Platforms hovering over the ground, in this case stacked farther than she could see stretching from the black void beneath her to the white sky above her.  Thousands of platforms each unique.

She was staring in wonder.  There was no end to how far they stretched, she was tiny compared to the sheer space around her.

“A little overwhelming at first I’d think.”

Mirabel spun and looked towards the familiar voice.  Hearth, because it couldn’t be anyone else, was smiling.  She had never seen her before but it was impossible to deny that this was magic in its true form.  They were practically made of golden flames, flickering with each subtle movement.

Mirabel teared up.  She knew Hearth was always with her but actually seeing them was new.  The figure was terrifying and would bring most to their knees in fear.  But Mirabel was just filled with joy at seeing them.

“Come here, little miracle.”   They opened their arms and Mirable dove into them, sobbing tears of joy.  The hug was everything hearth was to her.  Warm, safe, and loving.  Hearth ran something like a hand through her hair.  “Shh, why are you crying baby?”

She sniffled a little, “I’m happy.  You're here.  I can hug you.  Oh gosh you’re here!”

“I’m always here.  Always.”   Hearth promised.

“Where are we?”  She asked glancing over Hearths shoulder at the endless void below them.

“This is my world baby.”  She waved a hand and the darkness receded a bit.  “Every home I tend to, they're all connected to me here.  This is yours.”

Looking closer at the platform they were on Mirabel recognized familiar floor tiles and patterns on the wall, all leading to a door that looked more like a fireplace the longer she looked.  It was like Casita, but not.

“I wanted to show you.  All of the places I keep safe.  That I protect because they need me.”   Hearths voice turned sad a little bit.

“They need you.”  Mirabel understood, sniffing a little.  “You can’t be with me all the time because they need you too.”

“Yes and no.”   They ran another hand through her hair.  “I’ve always been with you.  I am magic, I fill Casita, I used to fuel the Candle.  ANd I’ve always been with you since the day you were born.”

“But I didn’t have magic.”  She mumbled.

“But you did, baby.”  Hearth guided Mirabel's face to look at them.  “You were so much of my magic that giving you a gift was pointless.  I chose you before you were even born to be mine .  I knew that I wanted a human host who I could adore and spoil.  I’ve known for the longest time that you would be mine.  You were always going to be mine .”

Hearth was smiling, her fire was so warm it felt like it should be burning but it wouldn’t.  Hearth would never burn her.

“That’s why I took your Abuelo’s sacrifice.  That's why I made sure the Encanto would thrive.  That’s why I built Castia.  It was all for you.  That was your gift.  And I am so sorry for getting distracted and not seeing how bad things had turned.  That Miracle was never for the town, or your Abuela, or anyone but you.  Because you're my little miracle and you deserve it.”

Mirabel gazed up at her with eyes filled with wonder.  All of that?  For her?  Hearth had planned this from before Abuelo died just to give her everything.

Hearth buried its face in Mirabel’s curls.  “My little miracle.  For you nothing is too little.  You deserve the world baby.  My baby.  My Miracle”

There were thousands of thoughts scrambling around in her head at the moment.  All bouncing and trying to get her attention.  It was so much to take in.  But none of that felt quite important right now.

Mirabel felt all of the fear and worry she had carried for years.  That even recently made her wonder if this was real, or if she would wake up and be in the nursery again, felt so far away.  It was real.  She was Hearth and Hearth wanted her.  Had always and would always want her.

She was loved.

Chapter Text

To no one's surprise the youngest generation of Madrigals were the ones to own up first.  The three remaining had all come to Casita and gave Mirabel their heartfelt apologies, as well as to Bruno and Antonio.

Camilo regretted leaving his twin behind, even when Mriabel pointed out that he was just doing what he was told, and was 5 at the time.  He countered with the fact that he had been old enough to know that for years now, and he should have started fixing it a while ago.  He also regretted shirking so many of his sibling responsibilities and not being in Antonio's life as much.  As well as spreading the rumors he heard about his Tio more.

Dolores had tackled their uncle in a hug and ranted for five minutes about why going in the walls was stupid and she was an idiot for not dragging him out of there ages ago.  She apologized for always hearing them struggling and not standing up for them, she apologized for not fighting for her family.

Lusia cried on Miraabels shoulder about how she was a terrible hermana for never being around to help her.  Evidently she had been carrying the guilt of that for far longer than anyone realized.

Things improved after that and one day Hearth asked them straight up if they wanted their gifts back.  Camilo admitted to missing the ease at which he could make people smile, he wanted to do that again.  Dolores and Luisa were unsure so Hearth offered an inbetween, their gifts back but not as powerful as before.  Both agreed that would probably be for the best.

Camilo had promptly gotten on the ball of making the residents of Casita laugh again and Luisa used her returned strength to refuse to let her sister out of hugs and give piggyback rides to any child who asked.  Dolroes relaxed at being able to hear the family nearby but not listening for everyone, she didn’t need to anymore, Hearth kept them all safe.

Pepa and Felix were the first of the Second Generation to apologize.  They had a laundry list of regrets and made apologize to everyone, including Luisa, Dolores, and Camilo.  They didn’t like how much they let Alma influence how they raised their children, they wanted them happy.

Antonio was more distant, he hadn’t forgotten how often they shoved him off for Mirable to take care of instead.  Everyone could kind of tell he didn’t think of them as his parents as much anymore.  But things were getting better, and maybe one day they could earn that title back.

Pepa had the tendency to not let Bruno out of her sight, as if worried he’d disappear again.  Many cuddle piles were had.

Augustin came back before Julieta.  Evidently they had argued over why everything happened.

“Your mama is willing to admit that she messed up but doesn't understand how.”  He explained to Mirabel, so happy to be able to hug his little girl again.  “She doesn’t get it.  And she’s still making excuses for Alma.”

He moved back into Casita hoping the shock would motivate Julieta to do a little more self reflection.  It was obvious he missed her, the two were very much still in love, but Julieta needed to wake up and smell the coffee.  Bruno was ready with alcohol every time Augustin was having a hard day.  Turns out Bruno couldn’t really get drunk anymore, but Augustin sure could.

Luisa and Camilo had to pull the duo out of a tree they had gotten stuck in in the middle of the night.  Agustin was drunk, Bruno had just followed because it was funny and got stuck.  This made everyone who wasn’t Pepa realize who the actual chaotic triplet was, she already knew.

Alma never apologized, no one expected her to.

Isabella returned 8 months after she left and was extremely different both from the perfect princess and downhearted woman she was before leaving.  New Isabella was confident in herself and her decisions, she also discovered she liked pants.

Her and Mirabel had a several hour long talk about regrets.  Mirabel was happy to have her sister back, so was Isabella.

She flatly refused her gift back when hearth offered, she found a love of gardening and didn’t want any shortcuts anymore.  Her room had accommodated and she had every tool she needed inside now.

After Discovering Miabels relationship she had promptly put the fear of God into Luis, and Dario agreed with her methods.  The two had become fast friends, with Dario showing up with weird plants he found to see if Isabella could recognize them.

They also started prank wars that spanned the whole of the Encanto and often got random villagers caught in the crossfire.

Casita was happier than ever to have its family happy and well again.

Sometimes Mirabel went to bed and woke up in an endless space of platforms and magic, sometimes she woke up in a home that was hers and filled with everyone she loved.

Regardless, she was happy.

THE END