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From the moment she got her gift, Dolores has been used to hearing anything and everything around the Encanto. Her favourite things to listen to were her familia's heart beats or her Papa's singing, she made sure to check in on their heart beats at random points during the day just to make sure every one was okay and to go out and search for them if something didn't sound right.
When her tío Bruno went into the walls, she payed him even more attention when his breathing went a little too quick or when his muttering and mumbling became a little too frantic. Eventually she began listening to his telenovelas, they were the most fun things she'd ever heard from him and soon he began to let her know whenever he was going to be starting them, especially when they got into the more dramatic parts of whatever story he'd been doing that month.
So when Casita began to crack beyond repair, Dolores's gift seemed to fade in and out. It wasn't noticeable at first, but eventually her hearing went back to what the rest of her familia could hear for a few minutes, those few minutes were the scariest of her life, right after her gift ceremony. She knew she had to do something, but she didn't want to scare her mama y papa more than they already were, so when her usual hearing returned she whispered clues to Mirabel and forgot all about it.
At least until the night of what should have been isabela's engagement. She could hear the house cracking, cracking, cracking. She could hear how quickly Mirabel's and tio Agustin's hearts were racing as the younger of the two stared her down from across the table and she could hear her tio Bruno trying to patch each new crack that he found, his muttering growing frantic with each one that appeared.
It all got too much for her and she whispered what she knew to her Hermanito, who whispered to their papa, who told Mama, who told Tia Julieta. The cracks began appearing in the dinning room, causing so much commotion that she couldn't keep up with any of it, not until one of tio Bruno's vision's made its way down to Abuela, which is when Dolores couldn't hold it back anymore and all but screamed what she knew to everyone in the room.
All hell broke loose then, the Guzman's fled Casita, as did Abuela, Luisa, tio agustin, Mama and Isa. She was vaguely aware of Mirabel rushing back into the house and disapearing, but she was more focused on the way her papa had pulled all three of his niños close and gently herded them towards her room, whispering reassurance as they went.
The five of them, once her Mama had come back and found them, all curled up and stayed together that night. By the next morning, Mirabel, who she knew to be with Bruno, still hadn't been found and so everyone but she and Antonio, who was just about as frightened as she was, were told to search for her. Even stuck in her room, Dolores was the first to find her, well her and Isa technically as she could hear the two singing and dancing together for the first time in years.
Dispite the fact that the two hermama's had finally made up, Abuela found the two and burst their happy bubble instantly. Dolores was quick to pull her hermanito out of her room and quickly head down to their Mama y papa, because she could hear that the very foundations of the house were begining to rumble as abuela and Mirabel argued and that scared the hell out of her.
That's when the loudest crack happend, causing Dolores to cover her ears and shakily move back into her papa, who wrapped his arms around her protectively as the two slowly moved back towards the nearest door. The moment the house began to fall apart, Casita pushed her, Camilo and her Mama outside and her papa further in so that he could grab a frozen Antonio and all but dive under a falling pillar in order to make it back out to them.
By the time the dust had settled, Dolores hadn't realised that she still had her hands over her ears, so ever so cautiously she took one off and when no noise assaulted her, she removed the other. It was only when she looked over at Camilo and her Mama that she realised she couldn't hear a word they were saying, she couldn't tell how they were because she could no longer hear their heart beats.
The revelation made her burst into tears, causing her family rush to her sides. Her papa was the first at her side, patting her down to check for injuries that they hadn't noticed, her Mama gently touched her shoulder as her hermanito's hold onto her hands as all of them try to help calm her down. Their touch helps to ground her enough that the strange ringing that she's only just realised she can hear begins to fade away enough that Dolores can finally hear her familia's voices.
Mama y papa seem to relax slightly now that she's calmed down "mija? Can you hear me?" Papa asks gently, watching her reaction closely as she slowly nods. Camilo smiles softly at her as Antonio tightens his grip on her hand as this is the first time he's ever seen Dolores so scared "when my gift stopped working I couldn't hear anything, my hearing is back to normal" she says softly, still taken by suprised when the sound of it doesn't cause her to flinch and go back to whispering.
Her familia smile sadly at her before they come closer "can we hug you?" Camilo asks, his eyes wide and still slightly scared from what's happend, at her nod Antonio flings himself against her chest, exactly like he always does, Camilo burrows under her arm and her Mama y papa wrap their arms around all three of them. Dolores eventually finds her head resting on Mama's chest and to her suprise, she can faintly hear her heart beating, which makes her sniffle quietly "I know it makes you nervous that you can't hear all of them, Querida" she hears her whisper and she moves ever so slightly closer.
It takes her awhile to get used to her new hearing, but she finally gets to sing and talk and yell all she wants again and even though she needs to snuggle against her familia to hear their heart beats, it makes it all worth it