Chapter Text

Mirabel One Shot/s (?)

Mirabel The Speedster

As Mirabel approached her family and door a million thoughts went through her head, what if it didn't work and she was left without a gift, what if it wasn't a good gift, she hoped it would be an interesting gift like Isa's, she hopes she can be helpful like Luisa, she hopes it can be as beautiful as Tia Pepa's or as fun Camilo's. All those thoughts, filling her with nervous energy stop the moment her Abuela presents the candle to her with her smile, a smile that promises safety and expresses pure unconditional love. For that moment she feels safe like no matter what happens her Abuela will be there for her and so she touches the candle and approaches the door, takes a deep breath, and smiles as she takes the handle and a golden light envelopes the door releasing countless specks of golden light around the door eliciting a gasp from Mirabel, the sight no less beautiful to her than when she saw the same happen during Camilo's ceremony. She takes a small step back to admire the sight right as she feels a sudden surge of energy, a wide smile bursting onto her face as she suddenly feels as if she has the energy of one of her Tia Pepa's storms inside of her. Is this what it feels like to have a gift normally or is hers just weird, she turns to ask Abuela as she sees her slowly move her head to her after her small step back.  

"Abuela, do gifts always give you so much energy?" She pumps her arms up and down quickly, barely stopping herself from jumping and running around with this rush of energy. "Umm, Abuela, are you okay, you're moving really slowly," She asks, concerned at her Abuela only now having turned her head fully towards her before quickly being distracted from that concern as her door releases another burst of light causing her to turn her head back toward her door with a smile to see her image.  

Her door displays herself as an adult in a running pose, cloaked in lightning, even her eyes seeming filled with it leaving her without her pupils and a massive grin on her face. Mirabel beamed at the sight and began to wonder what that meant, did she have lightning powers or could she run like lightning? She was about to run towards her door to open up her room and find out the answer but paused as she heard Abuela's voice very slowly begin to say "We have a new gift!" though the last two words were barely heard as Mirabel ran to open her new room after listening to what felt like Abuela taking 10 long seconds dragging out of each syllable of each word in the sentence. Mirabel squealed at the sight of her room, coupled with Abuela moving slowly and the speed at which she reached her room, she had a pretty good idea of what her gift was now.   

Before her eyes was a massive circular room with small rooms in a smaller circular structure in the center, Mirabel could see what looked like a small kitchen with a fridge, another room filled with books and a comfortable seat along with another mini-fridge, and too high for her to reach was a room containing a bed, a lamp and confusingly yet another mini-fridge. There was another room that contained a small gym, all children-sized equipment and another that contained many different instruments but what really got Mirabel's attention was a board that was filled with buttons and levers and a big screen.  

"Mira, sweetie, relax. The room isn't going anywhere, there's no need to rush" Mirabel stopped and turned around hearing her Mami speak to her at a normal speed causing Mirabel to raise an eyebrow slightly confused before smiling at her Mami.  

"Sorry, Mami, everyone was being slow and I wanted to see my room quickly," Mirabel said with a giggle before stepping back outside to wait for the applause and for the party to celebrate to begin.  

Abuela cleared her throat before inviting everyone present to begin the celebration in the room, Luisa and others bringing in the tables with snacks and instruments into the room, the entire process taking maybe 3 minutes but for Mirabel it felt ten times that length, distracting herself with anything she could that wouldn't include moving too much away from her Mami, she didn't want to upset Abuela by running off before the party could begin.  

/////  

*15 years later, Antonio's 5th Birthday*  

Mirabel wakes up to her alarm, one minute before she needs to begin the day by waking everyone up and begin the day. She quickly brushes her teeth in the bathroom of her room and goes to her board to pop some obstacles up around her room for her morning jog, setting up a pitfall, a section to shoot rubber arrows, and a few hurdles before bursting into motion with a manic grin on her face. The wind rushing across her face and blowing through her hair thoroughly wakes her up as she dodges each obstacle, laughing all the while due to the excitement of being able to let loose and the excitement of what today means, today her primo Tonito finally gets to have a gift of his own! She's so excited for him, this is a day that will impact him for the rest of his life but honestly, she is kind of scared for him as well. Now don't misunderstand, Mirabel loves her gift, she has so much freedom because of it but it isn't something she would ever wish for her cousin to have to suffer. Today is a happy day though and Mirabel will not dwell on negative thoughts like that, so she checks her clock after her 20 laps around her room and sees that 10 seconds have passed so she goes to take a shower. Once she has cleaned herself up Mirabel changes into her clothes, a slight grimace at her dress due to it limiting her range of movement but knowing that today of all days is not the day to argue with Abuela about that particular issue.  

"Ugh, guess today is a speed walking type of day" Mirabel muses to herself with an exaggerated sigh, arguing that she could be faster in pants seems to be a pointless endeavor with Abuela insisting that she's plenty fast enough speed walking in a dress which isn't necessarily incorrect, but it certainly is not as fun as running would be. "40 seconds left, I guess I should eat something before waking everyone up," Mira thinks out loud before going to her bedroom's mini fridge taking out an orange juice and a breakfast bar. See, Mirabel's gift requires her to use an incredible amount of energy, sadly too much energy for her to be able to rely entirely on her mother's cooking unless she were to eat all the food her mother made for the village, luckily for Mirabel her room provides her with bars and juice that can actually sustain her though she does still eat a bit more than anyone who isn't Camilo at family meals, though that is in part due to her trying to narrow the gap between her finishing her food compared to everyone else not that it does much.  

After eating the bland bar and enjoying her orange juice Mirabel checks the time and sees that she still has 35 seconds so she goes downstairs, greets her Abuelo's picture, sets up the breakfast table, and goes back to her room book zone to read in the remaining time before she needs to wake up her family, having missed the children running from her yard, having come over to ask about the Madrigals gifts but leaving after seeing a flash of blue lightning, running and yelling about how cool it was.  

"Ugh finally, time to get the slowpokes," Mirabel chuckles as she puts a bookmark and goes to wake up the rest of her family, knocking on their doors at a slower pace than she'd like so as not to annoy them, writing them all good morning notes as they slowly begin to go downstairs, leaving them on the counter before they pick up their breakfast and coffees, then she impatiently waits by the door before they can finally leave Casita for the morning.  

"Finally, see you all later!" Mirabel says too quickly for the family to understand before rushing off to transport all the decorations for Antonio's ceremony and rushing back to hang them around Casita. As she does this she stops as she hears Antonio pacing around his room, clearly nervous, so she walks to the nursery before slowly opening the door, something she learned the hard way she had to do at other people's speed or else they would be terrified (May Senora Lopez rest in peace, luckily the heart attack Mira gave her didn't kill her, falling down the stairs a week later sure did though).  

"Hola Tonito, you feeling okay?" Mirabel asked softly, remembering her own gift ceremony jitters.  

"Ahh! Oh, Mira, it's you!" Antonio ran into Mira, giving her a hug.  

Mirabel picked him up, giving him a hug as well before spinning around a little bit fast to loosen him up, "So birthday boy, what's got you so nervous on your special day?"  

"I'm just nervous, what if it doesn't work?" Antonio quietly said.  

"Well then, in that IMPOSSIBLE scenario, I'd move you into my room so you'd always have my help and I'd have you all to myself and no one would love you any less!" Mirabel squeezed the boy and spun him around a bit, eliciting a giggle from him.  

"Okay, okay, I get it, stop! Thanks, Mira!" Antonio giggles, he's not feeling entirely assured, worried it may be a bad gift or annoying like Mirabel sometimes says hers is but knows that dragging the conversation would be tough on Mirabel.  

"Oh, I know it's early, but do you wanna come to my room and get your gift?" Antonio giggles and nods at Mirabel asking at all because he can already see the lightning entering her eyes and knows she's already intending to set off to her room, so he tightens his hold on her as she rushes towards her room and goes towards a dial before turning it down to zero and releasing a relieved sigh.  

"Okay, Tonito, give me a sec, I'll be right back!" She smiles wider than she had before as she puts him down and runs up to her sowing zone and back down quicker than Antonio could blink, "Forgot to say milli before second, anyways Happy birthday Tonito!"  

Mirabel smiles as she hands him a jaguar plushie which Tonito gasps at and takes before hugging it and then Mirabel, "Thank you, Mira! I love it!"  

Mirabel smiles and ruffles his head, "No problem Tonito, I know you're an animal guy so now you can have something to cuddle when you're in your new room! Okay, I have to get back to setting up the decorations so your night can be as perfect as you, so I'll see you in a bit little guy! Don't be too nervous about your ceremony, okay? No matter what happens, I've got your back!"  

Mirabel drops Antonio back into his room after seeing him give an excited nod, then goes back to hanging up decorations and leaving to find and hang out with Dolores once she's finished all the work that doesn't require Isabela to add her flowers. her having dealt with most of the decorations herself leaving Dolores with free time since she doesn't have anything else to do so she's easy to find in the library, looking longingly at Mariano through the window, till she squeaks in surprise at Mira sitting next to her giving her a smoothie she picked up on the way and a smug look before smiling to herself and reading her book, enjoying the silence with Dolores.  

Now most wouldn't expect Dolores and Mirabel to be close, someone as energetic and loud as Mirabel with someone as quiet as Dolores doesn't sound like the perfect duo but surprisingly Mirabel and Dolores are basically inseparable... unless you count Mirabel running off most of the time. Mirabel upon discovering her gift had a sped-up perception of time, every minute to her feels like at least ten times that length, and so when not in her room Mirabel often doesn't speak to others opting rather to leave them notes and pick up their notes in response later when she sees them. The reason for her avoiding talking to others is that their every sentence is the length of a speech to her, most think she simply has the span of a toddler but the truth is she exercises insane amounts of patience for even the shortest of conversations. It had gotten so bad that she eventually decided on a rule that anyone speaking to her outside of her room must speak to her in 15 words or less, many think this is rude of her but anyone who knows Mirabel well knows that it is because any more than that and she is liable to have forgotten what the first few words of your sentence was as she has to listen out for each individual syllable and add them together then remember them for what to her feels like minutes of you slowly uttering each syllable of each word of the sentence. Once she has pieced together what you've said and hopefully remembered it, she then has to respond to you while consciously slowing down each syllable of her sentence so that you can comprehend what she said and while normally people can understand, she is still considered a quick talker and so sometimes she's asked to repeat herself. So because of this, she tries to avoid conversations as much as she can, only really speaking with her Mami, Papi, Antonio, Luisa, and Tio Felix. Her parents because they're her parents so she will try to power through 3-minute conversations with them, Antonio because she knows notes are harder for him than for others so she'll endure, Luisa because she needs to have someone force her to eat, and her Tio because he's a fast and energetic talker so she can generally hold herself still with him a bit longer than with most. The only time she talks to others much is in her room which luckily has a dial that she can use to alter her perception of time while in her room.  

Now you may wonder how Dolores comes into this, well you see, Dolores is the only person whom Mira can relate to in terms of preferring silence as a result of her gift, something she learned when Abuela forced the two to partner up for their chores as Dolores could hear any emergency or delivery someone wanted dealt with and inform Mirabel who could then rush off to deal with it. Initially, both were put off by the idea of having a partner for their chores, neither wanting to deal with small talk but after their first day on chores together they found that they got along just fine. The first time they did chores together the two decided to hang around a library seeing as they could both do their jobs from anywhere and both did not want to talk so they went to the library to relax, both reading books mainly ignoring each other until eventually Dolores heard a calm and hushed sounds coming from Mira and looked to see she was whispering to herself at super-speeds and initially it annoyed Dolores but she quickly found herself relaxing as she focused on the calming and too quick to understand whispers, sounding more like white-noise than anything else and giving her something nice to focus on to block everything else out making the rest background noise. That day both received a scolding from Alma as they got no work done, Dolores was too relaxed hearing the whispers and Mirabel was too relaxed not needing to talk and having someone not complain at her quick rambling so the two continued to work together, making sure to be more careful from then on but happy to work together. Eventually, this evolved to the two-spending time in Mira or Dolores' room to chat, Mirabel making sure to be quieter when it was in her room and Dolores remembering to not begin conversations unless Mira started them when in her room. Both became each other's greatest confidants, having by this point considered each other sisters.  

"We should head back to the house, they're looking for us" Mirabel read on a note Dolores wrote for Mira while she was reading and so Mirabel grabbed Dolores and ran her back to Casita and dropped her off with her parents before going off to relax with her own parents while she waited for the ceremony.  

"Hola Mami y Papi," Mirabel ran up and kissed her mother's cheek before doing the same with her father's then standing between the two.  

"Hola mi Guepardo" Julieta kissed Mira on her forehead, "How are you?"  

"Good, slow day like normal, but an exciting slow day," Mirabel said with a smile, "So, Papi, any incidents to report today?"  

"I've had a lucky day, only got attacked by one hive today," Agustin says with a proud smile.  

"Ooh, new record, maybe one day it'll be zero," Mira says with a cheeky smirk before wincing slightly at her mom lightly tapping the back of her head lightly despite seeing it coming a mile away.  

"Don't mess with your dad too much, Mira... also don't jinx it" Julieta breaks into a small smile near the end.  

"He-" Agustins 'outrage' at getting ganged up on is cut short as the ceremony begins and they all move to the sides to watch Antonio go up the stairs.  

Antonio freezes for a moment before breathing in and out, telling himself that if he can handle running around with Mira, he can open a door, so he walks towards his door, clutching his gift from Mira for dear life and walks towards his door and touches it, before suddenly... speaking to a Toucan? And inviting its friends?  

"Huh!?" Mira gasps in surprise at seeing a bunch of animals run over, laughing at the expressions of everyone around slowly morphing to match her own initial reaction. Once the same slow announcement of "We have a new gift!" is exclaimed by Abuela and Antonio opens his door Mirabel rushes to hug him before putting him back down and entering the room with everyone. The Madrigals all gather for a family photo during which Mirabel smiles and coats herself in lightning and encourages her Tio Bruno to flash his eyes green and smile. After the photo the party commences, Mirabel mostly hanging near Dolores until-  

"Mirabel, Mirabel! My cheetah friend said he's faster than you, can you guys race!?" Antonio appears on the said cheetah; Mirabel covers Dolores' ears when she hears his voice enter yelling territory then smiles at Antonio.  

"I know you're excited but try not to yell Tonito, it's already loud for Dolores. Also, if your friend is that confident then of course I'm happy to humble them" Mira stands up and smirks.  

"Sorry, Dolores" Antonio scratches the back of his head, embarrassed at his outburst.  

"No problem Tonito, now let's see them race" Dolores smiles, expecting Mirabel to win but thinking maybe the dress handicap would make it fairer.  

Mirabel and the cheetah decide to race to Antonio's bed and back and so they begin with Mirabel gaining a comfortable lead, trying to keep it somewhat interesting she feigns tripping on a branch so the Cheetah can reach Antonio's best first before deciding she's been generous enough and overcomes the cheetah leaving him having just turned from the bed before she rushes up and touches the bed and makes it back to the starting position. The audience claps and hollers, excited by the display before going back to their own affairs.  

"Wanna head to your room Lola, sorry it got a bit loud," Mirabel approaches Dolores once the buzz from the race wears off.  

"Yeah, I do, thanks Mira" Dolores smiles as they leave the room and walk towards their own before Dolores freezes and looks to the ground, seeing a giant crack in the middle of Casita headed towards the candle, Mira notices this and tries to run towards the candle but finds herself moving at normal speed and tripping from the surprise.  

"... What the fuck?" Mirabel says and looks to Dolores before they turn and see the crack fade away slowly.  

"... We'll tell Abuela tomorrow" Dolores decides, Mirabel nodding along, and they go to relax in Dolores' room for the rest of the night, both being drained from the party and what just happened with the candle they fall asleep.  

////  

Chapter Text

The Candle tries to keep to itself, that isn't something many beings like it are allowed to do in the cosmos, but the candle has done a decent job of it so far. Not many know that the Candle exists and that's partly because the Candle makes sure not to be greedy, the Candle can hide from most deities because the ones powerful enough to break its enchantments don't care to look deeper and others simply can't, however, some entities could not be hidden from no matter what. For example, the Candle knew from its inception that any flame deities would be aware of its existence, luckily the majority didn't care while some were welcoming like Hestia, interacting with the Candle by welcoming it into existence with a smile. Another sect of divine beings that immediately knew of the Candle's existence were tricksters, this was a little bit more dangerous for the Candle as they tend to be greedy and would certainly have fun messing with a newbie but it was necessary for the Candle to protect the Encanto from the vision of dangerous outsiders by preventing their view and luckily this danger was offset by the candle immediately being in contact with entities relating to protection and the concept of home. This involved beings like, again, Hestia or the Gasi, and luckily deities of this kind would protect their own so tricksters would stay away for the most part. The sect that even protection deities would not protect the Candle from, was the ever-indifferent sect of the afterlife and death.

See the Candle is a miracle, a blessing but its creation was undeniably the result of death, it is Pedro's sacrifice and love having taken form, and so of course this would receive the attention of dieties pertaining to death but luckily for the Candle, this sect is indifferent. As long as the Candle does not try to give anyone eternal life no deities related to death should bother it as death comes for all eventually, no matter what they will eventually collect and they have forever to do so, so the Candle can keep them as safe and as happy as it wants, it isn't their business. This is the case for most rulers of the afterlife or death, Persephone however is not most deities.

"Hi there, Little Spark" The Candle froze, not flickering at all for a second, terrified of what it meant that the Queen of the Underworld had approached it.
"You can relax, I'm not here to hurt you, I'm just interested in you, it's rare that a being like you is born nowadays, tell me about yourself," Persephone said softly, and from there, a wonderful friendship blossomed between the Goddess of Spring and the Protector of the Encanto.
/////

Mirabel was born in March, a Spring baby, full of life and excitement, a fact that any person who has laid their eyes on her would tell you. It was a rare sight to see Mirabel sitting still, from the moment she could crawl she seemed to be on a mission to go outside, the number of near heart attacks she had given the family by crawling into the woods would have Thanatos himself reluctant to answer a call from a Madrigal since it was always a miss call. The only times Mirabel would stay still was when with her sister Isa who would entertain the girl by making her flower crowns and growing flowers of many kinds all around her that Mirabel was more than happy to stay and play with, Isa noting that Mirabel was surprisingly gentle with them for a child her age, so gentle in fact that she'd only ever broken one of her flowers once by accident at 11 months of age.

"Mira, Mira it's okay! It's just one flower, don't cry!" Isabela tried to console her wailing sister, hugging her baby sister and trying to cheer her up by growing new flowers of different colours to try and placate the girl who wouldn't stop crying.
"Look see, it's fine, I can fix it, it's okay, Mira!" Isabela gently opened her baby sister's hand took the crumpled flower and used her magic to restore it as best she could to its original state, some petals still torn a little but looking decently healthy. Isabela then released a relieved sigh as she looked at her sister whose eyes were wide in awe before she clapped and giggled happily, reaching for the flower which Isa gave her and kissed it on one of its petals, in a childish attempt to make it feel better from it's boo boo like her mother would do for her.
//////

"Oh, now that is just precious! Little Spark, don't get me wrong, all these kids were cute, but that girl is just precious!" Persephone squealed, entranced at the sight of Mirabel interacting with the flowers. The Candle, flickered in an annoyed manner, clearly annoyed with the nickname Persephone had bestowed it all those years ago on the day that they met.

"Oh don't be like that, Sparky, a cute nickname for a cute candle who is taking care of just the most adorable little girl in the cosmos! Look at her kissing the flower better, she's so sweet! She's my favourite of your family, Candle, I'm sorry but you're in second place now!" The Candle's flame waved, feigning offence at the comment before excitedly moving to express its agreement regarding Mirabel being the cutest. Both entities jumped in surprise at the Candle being moved up and down slightly by Casita, expressing their agreement with the sentiment as well, something neither needed to be told as they could see how gentle Casita was with anything regarding Mirabel, Casita was with every baby Madrigal of course but with Mirabel there was a clear effort to be even softer with the girl.

"Oh we know Casita, we can tell but not like I can blame you, that little cutie is something special I tell you! I may just have to steal her away from you, aye Spark?" Persephone teased to which the Candle's flame moved as if to say "Try it, see what happens!"
/////

"Mirabel slow down, you could get hurt!" Julieta chased after her 3-year-old daughter who was running into the forest with a wide smile.
"But, Mami, you have to see, it's so pretty! Hurry up!" Mirabel continued to run through the forest, almost tripping on a root of a tree at some point but not noticing as it moved a bit to the right so as not to hurt the girl. "Mami, Mami, come on! Isn't it pretty?" She asked when her mother finally caught up with her to see this place she so desperately wanted to show her.

"Wow, Mira, this place is... it's beautiful" Julieta could understand her daughter's excitement at finding this cave now, calling it merely beautiful felt almost insulting if she were honest, it was breathtaking, without a doubt the most beautiful place she had ever seen. The cave was filled with beautiful, warm, floating lights, of many different colours, beautiful subterranean flowers blossomed around the cave, glowing in the darkness, and seemingly trimmed orchards bore neon-bright fruits surrounded by bushes with wonderful smelling flowers. White birch trees stood tall around the cave, emitting a light, almost ghostly glow and there were pathways to many of the many different orchards, the paths surrounded by glowing rubies and sapphire gems.

"Isn't it pretty, Mami, I found it yesterday! I saw a deer and I wanted to see it closer so I followed it and then it ran in here so I ran in here too but then I couldn't find it anymore!" Mirabel told her mother who seemed to only be half listening until the mention of chasing a deer, worried that Mirabel could have hurt herself doing so and so she turned to her daughter and picked her up.

"Mirabel, this place is gorgeous and I know that deer are interesting, but please don't chase wild animals next time. I don't want you getting hurt, mi Mariposita, okay?" Mirabel nodded, still grinning though, happy to see her mother also excited about this place before her stomach growled and her mother smiled at her.
"Okay good, now why don't we go back home and fill that belly of yours?" Julieta said before kissing Mirabel's head and holding her hand to walk her home, not wanting the energetic child to take off running again and possibly get hurt. As they walked back Julieta thought back on the beautiful cave Mirabel had just shown her, the pathways and trimmed orchards clearly meant someone was taking care of it but who? And how had she never seen or heard of this cave, she knew people who had come to this area of the Encanto before and she'd been here herself, how had they all missed this cave? She decided she would show her mother later but ended up forgetting about it later, how she forgot about showing her something as special as this you ask? Well, a heavy workload, stress from keeping Mirabel out of trouble, and a little divine intervention can do wonders for the memory.
/////

"Candle, please! I promise I won't ask you for anything ever again if you let me have her!" Persephone begged the Candle for the thousandth time that week. The Candle only waved its flame dismissively, telling her in no uncertain terms that no, she could not have their favourite child! "Candle, please! C'mon, I want a champion, I've never had one before and she's perfect for it! She's like a mini-me! She's so sweet, caring, loving, adventurous and protective of plant life and she's a spring baby! Come on, you can't deny that she was built for this!"

The Candle waved its flames and shined its engravings to what Persephone could understand as, "EXACTLY AND THAT IS WHY SHE IS MINE, NOW BACK OFF!" which Persephone huffed and rolled her eyes.
"Ugh, you have a whole family, why can't I just have one? Stop being stingy and share her! Okay, you know what, if you can convince me that you're better suited for her than me then I'll drop this forever so tell me, what gift do you intend to give her?" Persephone asked, confident that whatever answer the Candle would give would be unsatisfactory and allow her the chance to convince the Candle that it's best for Mira to be her champion.

The Candle shrunk the flame for a moment and waved it as if to say, "Nothing"
Nothing
...Nothing?
"... What do you mean, nothing?" The Queen of the Underworld asked, wondering if the Candle misheard the question before having that curiosity dashed by the Candle repeating itself saying 'No gift at all'.
"... Okay, Candle, I know you're young but are you blind?" Persephone asked, deadpan, to which the Candle flared as if to ask "What the hell are you talking about? Also, I'm almost 40, I'm not young!"
"Okay first off don't try that with a being thousands of years old, you're a child, but more importantly that woman, Alma, would treat Mirabel horribly if she had no gift," Persephone found herself more frustrated at seeing Candle rise to deny that and so she continued, "I don't know if you've noticed but she clearly treats her family more like tools for this village than as individuals, I don't think she intends to but I'm confident that if you give Mirabel no gift she'll treat her like she's worthless and forget her and the rest will follow suit"

The Candle tried to argue that that's what this is meant to address, by having one of her grandchildren receive no gift it will remind Alma that the gifts are not important to who they are as people. This response was met with an exasperated sigh from Persephone, "Little Spark, you have SO much to learn about people. Listen to how that woman speaks about the gifts, how deeply the idea that the helpfulness of a gift equals the worth of the person has been ingrained in every member of that family. I'm sure they may try to treat her fine if she gets no gift but I guarantee that her Abuela will turn away from her, see her as worthless at best and a threat to you at worst and this is ignoring the effect that it will have on the poor girls view of herself. She'll think she did something wrong or that something is wrong with her. Candle, this isn't the move, I guarantee it"

The Candle wavered, clearly ashamed at having not thought of these things before it started to freak out, waving wildly as it freaked out realizing that it was too late to change things, the candle lacked the necessary time left, there were months left before Mirabel's 5th birthday and the Candle needs takes a whole 5 years to gather the energy required to gain a gift and its only been stockpiling for Camilo!

"Well... I think I have a solution but... you're gonna say no" Persephone gave an exaggerated sigh, before looking at Candle, seeing it have to swallow (?) its pride and ask her to help provide the energy for Mirabel to get a gift to which Persephone giggled.
"Yeah, buddy nah, I think you know what I want. So stop being stingy and agree to share, let me make her my champion!" Persephone exclaimed as she got in candles personal space with a smug smile, The smile only grew once Candle flickered reluctantly as if to say "Ugh, fine... but she's still a Madrigal so you have to agree to form the connection through me so I and Casita can give her a room and keep appearances of it being me, okay?" to which Persephone nodded, quickly enough to give any mortal whiplash.
"... Can I have input on the room though?" Persephone asked with a sly smile to which the candle wavered, a sigh, before waving to say that as thanks for saving it from making a massive mistake, it guessed it would allow her to have some input.
/////

Mirabel could barely contain herself from sprinting up the stairs to the Candle and to her door, she'd been excited for this day for as long as she could remember. She wanted a useful gift, truly she did, but even more than that she wanted a gift as beautiful as her sisters, a small selfish part of her thought that she hoped it would be as beautiful as her sisters even if it meant it wouldn't be useful to the Encanto. Of course, she'd never say that though, that would make Abuela sad, it's wrong, so she swore to use her gift for the community as her Abuela repeated the words she said months ago at Camilo's ceremony and she turned to the door with a smile and approached her door and grabbed her handle, moving just slow enough as to not seem *too* eager.

Around her, she heard gasps as her door shined a brilliant gold, brighter than most doors shined causing many to wince and avert their eyes for a moment before looking back at the door and seeing the image of an adult Mirabel in a dress, seated and holding a two-thirds of pomegranate in one hand while the other she held the final third seemingly about to eat it. Most surprising about her door though was that another individual seemed to be etched onto it, a woman, aside from her hair she was not in the traditional gold of the miracle but a glowing pastel pink, with sky blue for eyes and she seemed to wear the same dress as Mirabel though some of it was obscured as Mirabel was seated in her lap and she had her arms wrapped around Mirabel in a loving embrace, looking down at her with an almost motherly love. The two seemed to be in a field, surrounded by blooming flowers and hauntingly beautiful lights hovered around the two.

"W-we have a new gift!" Abuela yelled, after gathering herself from the odd door and this was met with applause from an audience that also seemed to be recovering from the shock if the slow upstart of the applause was any indication, though it may also be due to some disappointment at seeing a gift reused rather than a new one all together.
"So, mi Mariposita, do you feel any different?" Julieta asked her daughter who was about to respond once she turned to her but stopped and gasped slightly at the sight behind her Mami and beside her Abuela.
"A-abuel-" She stopped as her Abuelo's spectre put a finger to his mouth and winked at her, Mirabel in shock released a squeak reminiscent of Dolore's verbal tick and spread a group of flowers all around her, of many different colours, and sizes and shapes.
"Woah! Flowers aye? I guess it's similar to your sister's gift eh?" Agusting said as he observed the flowers that suddenly appeared around himself, Mirabel and his wife, picking up a blue one and putting in Mirabel's hair before kissing her forehead, "It's a wonderful gift, mi vida"

"Th-thank you, Papa," Mirabel stuttered, having trouble looking away from her Abuelo to focus on her Papa.
"I think it's time you open your door, Miraboo," Agustin said as he and Julieta took a step back to allow Mirabel to do so which she did after taking a moment to get over seeing her Abuelo with holes in his chest and turned to the door and opened it to a somewhat familiar sight for Mirabel and Julieta though it left the rest of the Encanto shocked at the size, even her family surprised that Casita could somehow fit all this behind her door.

Mirabel's room was a field filled to the brim with life, countless orchards sporting many fruits stood tall, many bushes filled with both beautiful and dangerous flowers populated the field, and a waterfall cascading on the right, near it a white gazebo with black curtains covered in beautiful rose patterns sat, a table and two chairs and in the center of the room stood a tall pomegranate tree, the fruits too high up for any person to reach without some kind of assistance and a massive bed hanging from vines to a thick branch on the tree. To the left a cave, nearly identical to the cave that had been seen by Mirabel and Julieta however Mirabel noted that along with the pathways from before there was another that led directly to a door. While this sight is what had the majority in shock, what shocked Mirabel more than anything was something only she could see, or rather people only she could see, as for every bush of flowers and for every tree there was a nymph, all of which looked at Mirabel with excited smiles and waved at her excitedly to which Mirabel froze momentarily before breaking into a grin and waved back.

"Well, let's get the celebration underway!" Abuela yelled, once again being the first to regain her composure and reminded those tasked with bringing the celebration equipment to bring it all in so they could begin to celebrate.
/////

"So you're only here for today?" Mirabel asked, looking sad at the news.
"I'm afraid so, mi querida nieta," Pedro smiled sadly, upset at having to deliver the news to his granddaughter.
"B-but why?" Mirabel sniffled, visibly fighting back tears. "Why can't you stay here with us, Abuelo?"
"It's complicated, Mirabel, see when I died and left the miracle for this family I impressed some important people, one of them let me come up here for everyone's fifth birthday so I could see you all but only for that one day," Pedro informed Mirabel with a small smile as he put his hand on her cheek instinctively before freezing for a moment to blink the surprise out of his eyes as he felt he had actually made contact.

"Abuelo, what's wrong, why are you sitting still like that?" Mirabel innocently asked, entirely unaware of how shocking a moment this was for Pedro, the only family Pedro has felt himself able to make contact with for years has been dead relatives. Now here he is casually touching his nieta before he realizes something and laughs at himself.
"Ah sorry nieta, I was confused I was able to touch you but I understand now, Mirabel this ceremony I was asked to deliver a very important message to you. Mirabel, your gift won't be like the rest of the families, it will be... different," Pedro looked thoughtful, he wanted to ensure Mirabel understood the gravity of this gift but did not want her to become arrogant once she understood the nature of her gift.
"What do you mean different? Like good or bad different?" Mirabel was worried her gift might be bad because while it seemed to be as pretty as Isa she could also see things other people couldn't so what if it was making her crazy and this was all a big hallucination?

"Good different, mi nieta, please don't worry yourself. See while all the gifts come from the Candle, yours comes from something else, someone else. Mi nieta, what do you know about the Greek gods?" Pedro put on a relaxed smile, both to comfort Mirabel and to calm himself down as it dawned on him that he may have just set his five-year-old granddaughter up to read Greek mythology, a not particularly child-friendly means of entertainment.
"What's a Greek god?" Mirabel tilted her head in confusion, the only time she'd heard about God was at church and they never mentioned this new word, Greek.

"Okay, it's more complicated than what I can explain quickly but in short they're very strong, very old people who control parts of the world, and one of them saw you and liked you so they decided to make you their champion. That means they decided to help the candle give you your gift so your gift will be less like one gift and more like many gifts, do you understand?" Pedro smiled, hoping she'd understood what he'd said because he was not sure how to water it down more to a child's understanding while making sure she could understand the magnitude of the situation because he wasn't sure when the next gift ceremony would be as his kids were quite old to have more children and Persephone had already agreed with the candle to not personally enter the Encanto, regardless of a champion so as not to attract the attention of other gods.

"I think so. Can I thank the Greek god who gave me my gift? Oh, oh, also, what gifts did they give me, did you ask them when you saw them?" Mirabel could barely contain her excitement, it was confusing but she thought she understood, a strong old person gave her more than one gift basically.

"Oh, yes Mira you can thank them but you can't see them. You need to take some food and throw it into a fire and pray to them when you do, do you understand?" Pedro smiled at Mirabel's excited nod, "Okay then, the god who blessed you is Lady Persephone, she's in charge of Spring and is the boss of ghosts which is why you can see me when no one else can!"

"Wait but no one else can see the pretty ladies in my room, look! Does that mean they're dead too?" Mirabel asked, tearing up slightly, worried that her room was haunted before jumping slightly in shock at Abuelo's loud laugh.

"No, no, mi flor de primavera, I can't see them but Lady Persephone told me to tell you that the invisible women you will see are nymphs, nature spirits. They're here because they're connected to the plants and rivers in your room. Don't worry about them, they're nice, try talking to them sometimes when you're not busy," Pedro smiled, finding the fear Mirabel had of being haunted both adorable and hilarious. "Okay, now let me tell you the gifts, Lady Persephone told me you'll get and then you can tell me about yourself and the family before you sleep, okay mi nieta?"

"Okay, Abuelo!" Mirabel beamed, very excited to hear about her multiple gifts and to tell Abuelo about their family, she'd bet he'd love them just as much as she does.

"Okay, so first off, plants. You'll grow them, control them and help them live a long time, just being near a plant will make it a more healthy. Next, you can see ghosts, you know that but what you don't know is that if you wear something that is important to a ghost then you can let them see through your eyes and if they're here and alive you can make others see them too, pretty cool huh? Also, you'll be able to control darkness, you can control shadows' shape and see in the dark basically. You can also talk to deers because that's Lady Persephone's sacred, animal, you'll be able to understand the language Greek but you'll probably never come across it but if you do then you'll know it and finally, you can control the ground," Pedro said all this without taking a breath (cause he doesn't breath, get it?), only slowing down to ensure Mirabel was following. "Okay, I think that was everything. Wait, no, you'll also never get sick and in Spring, right now, you'll be extra strong so be careful not to break anything. Okay, NOW, that's everything!"

Mirabel giggled with a large smile, "That's so many! I'll be pretty like Isa and strong like Luisa! I'll make sure to thank, Lady Persaphoney every day! Oh, oh, tell
me what's something you like so I can wear it and you can also see everyone whenever you want?"

"It's Persephone, mi querida, and I'm sure she'll be happy for your thanks! You'll need to go into your uncle Bruno's room to get this but I had a ring I used to wear when I was younger that your Abuela gave to him, he doesn't wear it so maybe ask him if you can have it, I'm sure he'd be happy to let you have it," Pedro smiled and ruffled Mirabel's hair, feeling bittersweet about this meeting because he knew it wouldn't last long but he'd enjoy it while he could. "But that is tomorrow's business, for now, tell me all about yourself and mi familia, I want to know as much as possible!"
/////

The next morning after Mirabel woke up she looked over the side of her bed to see the nymphs all by the waterfall washing and talking, she wanted to go and join them but was nervous to go speak to new people, a whole new type of people. This fear evaporated as one of the nymphs happened to catch her looking and smiled warmly with a big wave towards her.

"Come and join us! We wanna meet our adorable little host!" Mirabel blushed at the compliment and quickly climbed out of her bed which she kept on the ground at her mother's insistence, she didn't get why she had to keep it low since she could control the vines and the bed was too big for her to fall but she didn't want her mom to worry so she agreed.

"I'm coming!" She yelled with a wide grin as she ran to the waterfall to meet the nymphs, their excitement making her less nervous to meet them. Once she was near the waterfall she squeaked as she was suddenly lifted into an unfamiliar pair of arms, looking the same beautiful shade of brown as the tree behind her.

"Oh my gods, you're so cute!" the nymph squealed, as Mirabel blushed, unsure of what to do in her position.

"Hey don't hog the cutie, Aegina!" A nymph as blue as the river exclaimed as she took Mirabel from the now-named Aegina.

"Both of you put her down, no matter how cute she is, she's not a teddy bear to fight over," A third nymph, skin as green as the grass, said as she took Mirabel from the second nymph and put her down.

"Sorry about these two, they tend not to think when they're excited. I'm Anchinoe, a river nymph, the idiot who grabbed out first is Aegina and the moron who grabbed you after is Klaia," the now-named Anchinoe told Mirabel with a smile after crouching slightly to be on eye level with her.

"H-hello, I'm Mirabel!" She waved at all three shyly, still mentally recovering from how suddenly she was picked up the moment she approached.

"Sorry about that Mirabel, we were just excited cause you're just as adorable as Lady Persephone said," Aegina chuckled with an embarrassed smile

"It's okay, j-just ask next time before you pick me up please?" Mirabel said with a reassuring smile.

"Of course, we will next time, wouldn't wanna disrespect our hostess now would we?" Klaia chimed with a chuckle.

"What's a hostess?" Mirabel tilted her head slightly in confusion.

"Oh um, it's someone who lets you stay in their place. This is your room, made for you by the Candle and Lady Persephone so we're your guests though we're gonna live here forever so guests aren't right but you get it" Klaia explained.

"Oh okay! Well, it was nice to meet you all, I need to go get ready for today!" Mirabel exclaimed as she waved and turned to leave before Anchinoe tapped her shoulder and pointed it to the cave with the door.

"You should get ready in there, there's a bunch of dresses and a bathroom for you there, courtesy of Lady Persephone of course," Anchinoe said with a smile, having noticed Mirabel was going to leave the room to get ready and accurately deduced that most rooms didn't have the addition of a bathroom.

"Oh, thank you! I'll just go ask Mami to come help me get ready!" Mirabel said with a smile, no one else had bathrooms in their room, this is so cool!

"We can help if you want, it's our job to help you after all! Also wouldn't it be nice to surprise your mom all ready for the day without her help?" Aegina piped up with a smile.

"Oh, that's a good idea! Let's do that! She'll be so surprised!"
/////
*4 years later*
Years went on like this, with Mirabel getting closer to the many nymphs in her room. Mirabel spent the first four or so years using her gift the exact same way as Isabela at the instruction of Abuela, she was essentially forced into becoming a mini-Isabela and at first she loved it, she got to spend time with Isabela and had fun but over those years she grew to hate the pressure. She noticed how Isa would sigh in relief when Abuela would leave the room and sag her shoulders in a way Abuela would never approve of, she saw how Isabela would tense up whenever Abuela would put hands on her shoulders to praise her and she saw how tired Isabela would be from practising her poses the night before, something she initially found fun to do with Isa in her room like it was their own thing but quickly found it just as boring and tedious as Isabela did. Then she suddenly found herself reacting the same way to Abuela's words and actions, she didn't even notice until Klaia went out to town with her one day and asked why she acted so differently in and out of her room one night.

"Okay wait wait wait, I've known you since you were 5 and I've never seen you so... stiff. Why were you so tense when you were outside of here? And why were you only making pink and purple flowers?" Klaia tilted her head in confusion at the 9-year-old's actions once they entered her room after the day.

"Because Abuela wants everything to be perfect so I have to make pretty flowers like Isa. I'm also not, 'tense', it's just proper posture. I'm supposed to do it so I look proper and respectable" Mirabel says neutrally as she approaches a makeshift fire pit she and the nymphs made to make sacrifices to Persephone and puts some wood to start the fire.

"But other flowers can be pretty, they don't ALL have to be pink and purple! Also, why do you have to be 'proper', you're not like Lady Persephone, there's no pressure of royalty to make you act that way. You're the champion of a nature goddess! Nature is about freedom! It's about chaos! Nature's beautiful but it's also scary and dangerous! And there's beauty in all that! It's about being you! You can't let her make you act a certain way, it'll hold you back! You gotta be yourself, if you hold yourself back by not being yourself you're disrespecting you and Lady Persephone!" Klaia says as she jumps up and down in frustration at the situation while Mirabel has begun the fire.

"B-but... but I don't wanna upset Abuela, she'll be disappointed in me" Mirabel says quietly as she takes out her small bag of food she snuck away to sacrifice to Persephone.

Klaia sighed before sitting next to Mirabel and putting a hand on her shoulder, "Look, I know you wanna make everyone happy but... that's not possible. Mirabel, does acting the way your Grandma says to make you happy?"

"... no" Mirabel says quietly with a small shake of her head as she looks at the fire.

"What would make you happy?" Klaia asks softly.

"I... I wanna wear all the beautiful dresses Lady Persephone got me, not just the pink and purple ones. I wanna... I wanna grow more than flowers like trees and fruits and vegetables! I wanna help at the farms so Tia Pepa doesn't have to cry or be happy whenever people want! I wanna run in the woods and not worry about being dirty! I wanna do all that with my sister too!" Mirabel exclaims, starting off softly and picking up volume and energy as she rants with tears building up in her eyes.

Klaia takes Mirabel's face in her hands, makes her look at her and smiles.

"Then do that! Mirabel, you're a wonder! You caught the attention of the Queen of the fricking Underworld! Don't doubt if what you want is wrong or not cause your Abuela disagrees with it! Just know you've always got our support and Lady Persephone's too! Promise, right now, when you give this sacrifice promise to Lady Persephone that you'll live true to you no matter who says what!" Klaia says with a grin before releasing Mirabel's face who turns to the fire with a grin and tears still dripping from her face.

And so she promised and from that moment onward, one Madrigal learnt to put themselves before the community.
/////
*6 years later*

Alma sighed looking at her youngest nieta, wearing a dress that she'd made clear she disapproved of so many times, and on the day of Antonio's ceremony no less. She'd admit, the dress itself was beautiful, she had no problem with it in that regard but it threw off the whole balance. The family was very clearly split into cold and warm colours until Mirabel one day suddenly chose to wear a yellow sundress, a one-off that Alma thought would never happen again until Mirabel came out with a white and black dress, this time she spoke to Mirabel about the colour coding of the family and the at the time 9-year-old had the audacity to say, "But it's not school, dress codes are stupid".

It was an argument the two had many times and Alma just never could convince Mirabel to stop, made clear by Mirabel wearing a light pink and red rose-covered dress today with branches curling around the top (A/N: Yeah that's right, I can't describe clothes well, sue me! I'll drop a link in the notes so you can get a better visual).

It would annoying but tolerable if that were the only issue that Mirabel has caused but no, at 10 years old Mirabel also seemed to out of nowhere decide that she would be in charge of her chores both what chores and when she would do them. Suddenly at breakfast one day when issuing chores Mirabel declared that Pepa could take the day off and spend time her new baby Antonio claiming that she would take care of the fields that day. Alma was more confused than annoyed initially and asked Mirabel what she was talking about, how could she help the farmers? Mirabel said her gift would help them grow quicker and left to the farms before Alma could even voice her disapproval and Pepa was more than happy to take the day off to spend it with her son.

Of course, Alma couldn't just let this happen without at least seeing that what Mirabel was doing was ACTUALLY benefiting the Encanto and not just her interrupting Pepa's chores while dodging her own. Upon getting to the farm she was baffled at what she saw, she saw a variety of plants and vegetables that the farmers had never grown before beginning to grow in batches and the food already being grown seemed to be far larger than they'd normally be, some almost triple their normal size. All this was weird enough but most weirdly was Mirabel seemingly... talking to a giant pumpkin.

A farmer's head perked up at noticing Alma watching and approached her with a big grin, "Ah, Donã Alma! I'm so glad you're here, thank you for sending Mirabel here! We didn't know her gift did more than grow flowers, this is incredible! We were confused why she was here instead of Pepa initially but after seeing what she could do we were shocked, why haven't you ever sent her here before?"

"Um, yes, this is a more recent discovery about how Mirabel uses her gift, she never used it this way before today," Alma gave a slightly strained smile, she was happy that Mirabel was benefiting the community of course but more than a little unhappy at Mirabel suddenly deciding to deviate from her regular duties with Isabela.

Alma went home after speaking to the farmers a bit, a strained smile as they delighted over how useful this new use of Mirabel's gift would be. She came home to a sight she hadn't seen in months, Pepa relaxed and spent time with Antonio. Alma took a breath and calmed down a little bit at seeing this and thought clearly, Tonito was still young so perhaps she would allow Mirabel to help at the farms more for a few years to allow Pepa and her son to bond but that dinner she would make it clear that these decisions were not Mirabel's alone to make.

This went over... mostly all right, Mirabel said she wanted to keep doing it to help her Tia but that she was doing it because she wanted to and not because her Abuela said so. This led to an argument that has continued to this day with Mirabel arguing with her Abuela constantly, Alma arguing that Mirabel needed to understand that the community comes before her desires and Mirabel arguing that her gift was hers to use as she pleased.

This leads to Mirabel coming to be known as 'the troublesome Madrigal'. She was always doing whatever she pleased, whenever she pleased which upset some and made others happy. Villagers in general initially hated this change, the time it took to decorate venues doubled due to it being left to Isabela alone if Mirabel wasn't in the mood to help, sure if it was a large-scale project she'd always help Isabela but otherwise it was a coin toss. Simply asking her for a flower or two wasn't a guaranteed yes like with other Madrigals, if she didn't like you or how you asked then the answer was a clear no, if you were rude enough though you may be unlucky enough to see your shadow rise and terrorise you when you go to sleep.

She grew closer to Pepa due to allowing her time with her family and sometimes even going to the fields at the same time simply to read whatever books Pepa read to make herself cry together. The two spent so much time together that Julieta would (not) jokingly have to tell Pepa to stop trying to steal her youngest from her.

Initially, this rebellion from Mirabel had upset Isabela, how could her younger sister just abandon her duty? Just disobey her Abuela? She became quite rude and short with Mirabel, she wouldn't say it out loud but it was because she felt somehow abandoned and jealous of her bravery to deny her Abuela. For nearly three years Isabela couldn't spend a minute with her sister without making some cutting remark but Mirabel would take it and simply smile at her because Mirabel knew the pressure her sister experienced quite intimately. She remembered how it felt standing by her sister's side, a statue of perfection, the two flowers of Encanto and she knew the pressure was probably even worse for her as the first of their generation.

She wasn't sure how to broach the situation with Isabela for many years until one night when walking past her sister's room at night she felt her plants wilting in despair. Isabela's plants tend to respond to her emotions if strong enough but to Mirabel, each emotion from Isabela is clear the moment one of her plants blooms to life, and recently her plants have been feeling more and more filled with despair. Mirabel couldn't allow this to sit anymore so she knocked on Isabela's door... and received no response. So she was about to knock again until she felt the flowers in Isabela's room being replaced quickly with panic-leaking flowers then quick footsteps towards the door and a smiling Isabela opened the door, looking perfectly happy until she saw the person knocking was Mirabel and her face turned to a scowl.

"Ugh, it's you. What do you want Mirabel?" Isabela rolled her eyes, clearly preparing to slam the door in Mirabel's face.

"C-can I come in, I want to talk to you but I don't think we should do it out here," Mirabel pointed into the room behind Isabela nervously.

"... Fine but this better be important or I'm throwing you out" Isabela said before stepping aside allowing Mirabel to enter then slamming the door shut and walking further in, sitting on her bed and gesturing to Mirabel to talk.

"Okay so umm... you know how your gift responds to your feelings and stuff? Well since ours are so similar I can kinda feel whatever it is you're feeling when you feel it so umm... what's up Isa? You've been really stressed lately, like more so than normal. I'm surprised you haven't broken or gone feral from how much frustration I can feel in your more recent flowers," Mirabel says as she sits next to her sister and puts her hand on her shoulder, rubbing it slowly.

Isabela's eyes widened at this news, she wasn't at all aware Mirabel could do that and if she could do that then Isabela really couldn't hide anything from Mirabel so... maybe just this once she could tell someone how she felt?

"Okay, I wish I knew that before this conversation but whatever, I guess there's no use hiding it. You know how Mariano is courting me?" Mirabel slowly nods at this, hoping she won't have to beat Mariano for doing something to her sister.

"Well... I DON'T LIKE HIM!" Mirabel jumps slightly in shock at the sudden volume before taking a breath and hugging her older sister.

"Oh Isa, that's horrible! And I assume you're staying with him to make Abuela happy?" Mirabel asks as hugs her sister and leans her head on her shoulder, pondering if this is what she'd have endured too without Klaia and the other nymphs supporting her.

"Yes! I don't want to disappoint Abuela but I really don't like Mariano like that, he's a great guy but he's just not my type! And now Abuela has started mentioning marriage and I just feel like I'm not at all ready for anything like that! I know she doesn't mean now, she means a few years later down the line but still!" The 18-year-old cried and only stopped at a popping sound causing her to raise her head and look to the ground.

"Umm... Mirabele why did you grow a cactus in the middle of me baring my soul to you?" Isabela tilts her head at the cactus, confused.

"Umm... that wasn't me Isa, that was definitely you," Mirabel tilted her head as well, she'd always suspected her sister could grow more than flowers and vines but had no clue what her limits could be.

"I... I grew that? It's so... pokey and imperfect... I love it! Holy crap, if I can do this then what else can I do?" Isabela smiles widely as she picks up the small cactus.

"Why not find out?" Mirabel says with a mischievous smirk before growing a pollen pod and launching it at Isabela staining her dress yellow, drawing a smirk from Isabela who returned the favour before the two began experimenting with the limits of Isabela's gift within her room and falling asleep together.

That night led to another Madrigal learning to put themselves first, it was a slower process due to Isabela having less support than Mirabel did but she definitely changed.

Isabela began wearing blue dresses rather than her signature purple, this raised an eyebrow from Alma and casual comments about how purple suited her better but those went through one ear and out the next. She then told Abuela that she didn't feel ready for a courtship or marriage anytime soon. This led to a teary conversation, Alma was distressed at this news, mainly at why Isabela didn't tell her immediately but Isabela explained that she didn't want to disappoint or upset her to which Alma told her that should only get into relationships she wanted for herself and next time to tell her how she feels.

Isabela for the most part publicly still stuck to flowers, only experimenting in her room, uncomfortable with the idea of rebelling as openly as Mirabel but enjoying her small freedoms here and there. Isabela was still expected to be 'Senorita Perfecta' for the most part but now she could handle it better. On the upside, Dolores and Mariano began their own relationship, this led to some confusion about the vision Dolores received from Bruno all those years ago but they put those concerns aside (what they didn't know was that Bruno's vision was very VERY literal, by man of her dreams it quite literally meant a man in her dreams was of her reach, betrothed to another).

Today wasn't about Mirabel though, it was about Antonio! Alma gave up her attempt to get Mirabel to change clothes before even trying today, she knew the argument would go on for too long and be pointless so she simply sent the family off to do their parts in preparing for today.

Mirabel followed her Tio Bruno as he slunk off to his tower for the day to 'stay out of the way'.

"Tio Bruno, before you go can I ask you to borrow something for today?" Mirabel asked, remembering her conversation with her Abuelo from all those years ago.

"Um, depends on what it is. What do you need kid?" Bruno asked with a raised eyebrow, Mirabel rarely asks him for favours. Sure they hang out considering Mirabel takes days off whenever she feels like it and he's always free so she and him have a lot of time to kill together but it's rare she asks him for anything.

"Do you have Abuelo's ring?" Bruno raised both eyebrows, a bit surprised she even knew about that.

"Yeah, I do, why do you want to borrow it?" Bruno asks only to receive a mischievous grin in response.

"It's a surprise for the family, just watch it'll be awesome. Also maybe prepare your heart, wouldn't want you to have a heart attack or anything old man," Mirabel says jokingly poking pulling at a rare grey hair from Bruno to which he slaps her hand away from his head and sighs.

"Yeah okay, let me just go get it you rascal, and watch who you call old, I'm younger than your mother," Bruno says as he enters his room and goes to get the ring.

"Only by like 30 minutes!" She yells in his room as he goes deeper in, she would follow him but she hates the dessert feel, which makes sense she supposes considering the whole goddess of spring thing.

"Aight kid, here ya go. Now go do your stuff for today, I'd prefer not to hear Mama yell at you today of all days kiddo" Bruno says as Mirabel slips the ring on.

"Got it, thanks, Tio! I'll see you tonight!" Mirabel says with a smile as she leaves to go get Antonio because she hears her Tia Pepa tell Abuela about how she can't find him.

/////

As Mirabel walks Antonio to his door her mind races, okay so she can see Abuelo next to Abuela but the question is how does she reveal him? She can't just unannounced spring him into being, especially with the sword wounds still visible! Wait can she hide that? She'll use her shadow to do that actually.

Back to serious matters, how does she do this, they're already almost at the Candle so should she do it before Antonio gets his gift? After? Okay, you know what, she's just going to wing it!

Once Antonio and Mirabel reach Abuela and the Candle, Mirabel step by her Tia Pepa's side, and once Antonio swears to use his gift for the community Mirabel taps her Abuela on the shoulder to which she receives an admittedly deserved glare from both shock and anger at interrupting.

"I'm sorry for interrupting Abuela but there's someone who would like to wish Tonito luck first," Mirabel says with a nervous smile before looking to her Abuelo who gives two goofy thumbs up and a grin so Mirabel quickly sends her shadow to wrap around his wounded area and then mentally reaches out for the connection between the ring and her Abuelo making him visible for all to see.

The room is filled with gasps before going deathly silent as Pedro smiles at Alma who freezes from shock before tearing up.

"P-Pedro, is that really you?" She says in almost a whisper.

"Si, mi amor, it is me," he says with a smile, slightly wistful as he wants nothing more than to hold her but he knows he can't in this state. "But before we catch up don't we have a ceremony to complete, Antonio my boy, why don't you open up your door? I have all night to get to be with you all!"

Chapter Text

Mirabel curled up under her covers and wept, she started the day so happy and excited only to end it with tears and shame.

'What did I do wrong? How come I don't get a gift too? Is it because I'm bad?' Mirabel thought as she cried.

"Please, I'll be good, I just want to make my family proud" Mirabel croaked quietly before her body fell asleep.

Her spirit however didn't merely fall asleep, but rather fell through dimensions bursting with different hues of light causing Mirabel to open her eyes wide and scream in fear as she fell into the unknown.

She screamed for a few minutes before finally, she seemed to fall through a golden hoop and into a fluffy pillow the size of a couch.

"W-what was that? What's happening?" Mirabel exclaimed, frightened, as she tried to push herself up to look around but kept fumbling and falling due to the pillow sinking in when her hands pushed it.

"Ahh, put me down!" Mirabel yelled at nothing as she began to float out of the pillow and into the air.

"Relax bud, you're safe here," an unfamiliar voice said behind Mirabel, causing her to turn her head around as best she could to see them before suddenly she was turned the right side up and facing the woman who spoke to her.

The woman had long black hair, stopping at the middle of her back and blue eyes. What really caught Mirabel's attention though was the woman's outfit, she'd never seen a girl wear clothes like them. The woman wore a black blazer over a white shirt, a white bow tie, black mini-shorts with grey stockings, and black boots. 

"Wow, your clothes are cool!" Mirabel exclaimed with wide eyes, before remembering her panic and flailing her arms, "I mean, put me down! Who are you!?"

The woman chuckled before saying some words Mirabel couldn't understand, the pillow she floated above turned into a chair and she was settled into it as the woman spoke some more gibberish, and the ground she stood on elevated into a stage leading to Mirabel straining her neck to look at her, eyes wide in shock.

"Well my cute little friend, I am the spectacular Zatanna Zatara!" She announced as she waved her hand in an arc above her head, her name appearing above her head in a flash of golden light.

"Wow, how did you do that!? That's so cool!" Mirabel gasped, jumping out of her chair in excitement as she observed the light show.

"Well cutie, that's actually why I'm here! I'm here to teach you how to do that and more! So tell me Mirabel, what do you know about magic?" Zatanna jumped off the stage and spoke more gibberish causing Mirabel's chair to duplicate.

"Magic? Umm, I know it can do a lot! Like make flowers grow, and make houses alive! Oh, I also know that it comes from the Candle!" Mirabel said with a sad smile, she wanted to be more excited but couldn't help feeling sad knowing that now she was the only one in the family without magic. Even the house had it! What's next? Are they gonna get a puppy and it'll get magic too? ... that actually sounds kinda cool, BUT STILL!

"Okay, half marks because it can do those things! Not bad, but what is this about a candle? And tell me all the magic you've seen before!" Zatanna said with a grin, curiosity peaked at this unique answer.

"The Candle is the miracle, it's how my family has magic! I'll tell you the story my Abuela told me, years ago my Abuela and Abuelo had to run away from home cause bad men destroyed it, they came to a river and my Abuelo was lost and then we got a miracle! Their marriage candle became bright and the mountains rose and Casita came! Casita is our house, she's alive! And then on my mama's fifth birthday, she, Tia Pepa, and Tio Bruno all got magic doors which they opened and got their gifts! My mama heals, Tio Bruno sees the future and Tia Pepa controls the weather with her feelings! And then, and then all of Mama and Tia's kids had gifts too!" Mirabel rapidly stated, giddy at the chance to talk about her family until her face fell at her last statement, "Umm, except me... I didn't get one today when I was supposed to"

Zatanna blinked for a second, processing the mountain of a story this kid just dropped on her. 

'Wow, this kid can ramble a lot, really quickly, ha guess that means she'll have an easier time with this than most' Zatanna thought before turning to Mirabel.

"Hey, turn that frown upside down, that's what I'm here for, remember? When I'm through with you, you'll be able to do magic in a snap!" Zatanna snapped her fingers and a chalkboard appeared behind her.

"Wow! So you can do magic!? How? I didn't know anyone outside of my family could do magic too! Do you have your own candle?" Mirabel rambled quickly, before stopping as fingers snapped in front of her face.

"Slow down amigo, you gotta give me a chance to answer you if you want to know any of these things. In order, yes, because I'm awesome, many people can and no. Well, no magic candle at least, I do have a few neat ones lying around the apartment that smell magic," Zatanna grinned, finding Mirabel's excitement contagious. 

"Umm, Senora Zatanna, why are you teaching me anyway? Also, where are we actually?" Mirabel looked around the room suspiciously, now having somewhat calmed down from her excitement at seeing new magic.

"We're in my mindscape! As to why I'm teaching you, it's because I'm just so bored! I don't really have anything to do for this week since Doctor Fate is in control right now so while he's in control I figured I'd come to help you after I sensed your distress. See magic and feelings are heavily linked together, when someone with as much magic as you is as upset as you were a bit ago, it'll attract a lot of attention! I figured, it better I use my week of boredom to help you control your magic so you don't attract the wrong kind of attention" Zatanna explained, leaving Mirabel slightly satisfied but even more confused.

"Umm... Doctor Fate? Who's that?" Mirabel tilted her head in confusion.

"Oh, yeah I should explain that. So there's this helmet I wear every fourth week and when I wear it, this really powerful magic user called Doctor Fate controls my body so I'm just back here bored for the week," Zatanna sighs heavily to express the annoyance of the boredom. "It's better though, I mean he used to just take a body until it died, at least now he swaps with my friends and dad. Speaking of which, I should tell you that I won't be the only one teaching you! It'll probably be different people every week and we won't all be teaching you the same things, me and dad mostly will though since he taught me. I'll check if the others will teach you too but I doubt they'll say no, they also always complain about how boring it is just being in their minds watching Fate pilot"

Mirabel nodded, happy with this explanation but a little put out at the idea of some helmet guy controlling people's bodies. "Cool, so what are you all going to teach me?" Mirabel leaned forward with stars in her eyes, her excitement returning with full force now that most of her confusion was cleared up.

"Well me and dad will be teaching you word magic, basically how to make the world and people do what you say. That's the simple version though, eventually, you're supposed to be able to control things without talking but that takes most people decades. Khalid will probably teach you healing and plant magic, he tends to focus on living things with his magic though he may also end up teaching you a few languages which I know, bleh boring when you can be doing magic but it'll make his type of magic work better so tough it out and Thirteen, yes that's her name, will probably teach you bad luck magic," Zatanna levitated a chalk behind her to write on a bored behind her the names she mentioned and the specific things they'll be teaching her.

"Wow, that's a lot! Can we start now!?" Mirabel leaned forward further in her excitement before having to catch herself from falling and looking back at Zatanna with a wide grin.

"Sure thing, the first thing I'm going to have to teach you is how to speak backward!" Zatanna grinned, this is the easiest and most frustrating part of learning her type of magic, she'd find this hilarious. 

"Talking backwards? Wait is that what you were doing earlier? I thought you were just speaking gibberish!" Mirabel exclaimed.

"Yeah it sounds that way now, by the end of the week I guarantee you'll be able to clock what I'm saying, and you'll be able to say some bigger words backward but only if you focus and try your best! Are you going to do that?" Zatanna smirked and raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah!" Mirabel yelled and shot her hands into the air!

Zatanna narrowed her eyes as if suspicious of whether she meant it or not before grinning and speaking backward to turn the mindscape into one big classroom, "Then let's get started!"

/////

"Abuela! Abuela! I'm going to learn magic!" Mirabel exclaimed the next morning to her Abuela excitedly.

Alma gave a deep sigh, "Mirabel, you don't have a gift, alright? I know it is upsetting but you simply must accept it and move on, you cannot learn a gift. Now I'm busy, don't bother me or the family from our tasks"

"But Abuela, I mean it! My teacher in my dream sa-" Mirabel continued undeterred before being interrupted.

"Mirabel! I said I am busy, your dreams and reality are separate! I'm sorry you did not get a gift but it does not mean you can disturb the rest of us when we are busy, alright?" Alma said sternly, causing Mirabel to flinch slightly, unused to being yelled at by her Abuela.

"O-okay," Mirabel muttered as she looked to the floor before rushing away to the nursery.

/////

Mirabel spent hours night after night training with Zatanna, then Zatara the next week, then Khalid who refused to teach her any magic until he considered her Arabic, Classical Greek, and Latin to be passable (I'm sure you can guess which weeks she looks forward to the least) and then Thirteen before the cycle would loop.

Her classes with Zatanna and Zatara were easily her favourite, sure it took her a while to get used to speaking backward and once she was doing it without thinking it caused a few raised eyebrows, but once she got over that trouble being able to alter reality was as fun as it sounds even when it was mostly small scale stuff. Dolores definitely looked at her funny for a bit after she said "La Familia Madrigal" backward instead of normal. She had many little incidents like that the first few years, anyone who walked into Casita while she was doing chores or into her room while she was sewing would be confused by what she could possibly be saying.

Classes with Khalid were a different kind of fun, eventually, it took years for him to start teaching her actual magic, the first 3 years spent on drilling Latin, Arabic, and Classical Greek into her skull. Eventually, he explained that it was best to use his type of magic through these languages so she buckled down and got through them. It was hard but with some magic she was able to make it so it was easier for her to learn than it would be otherwise, making it so it only took her four years before she was fluent in all three.

Like she did with Zatanna and Zatara she would practice this when she was awake too, this raised some eyebrows from her teachers at school when her work would have words in different languages scribbled into the margins of her notebooks. One teacher recognized a few words as Latin and assuming she was trying to learn something new to kind of make up for feeling bad about not getting a gift gave her a textbook on learning Latin and a thumbs-up after class, telling her that he was impressed with her drive to learn. Mirabel rode that confidence wave for a month and went to her studies even harder.

Once Mirabel was fluent enough by Khalid's standards she began actually learning healing and plant magic, which to her horror first involved learning a lot of biology! Being nine and having just learned 3 whole languages she'll probably not get to speak to anyone other than Khalid, she was upset and asked why she couldn't just use the word magic from Zatanna and Zatara's lessons to make plants move and heal people to which Khalid had to explain that reality manipulation on living things tends to have some bad side effects if everything isn't worded absolutely perfectly and unless you have perfect energy efficiency you'll likely overheal. Mirabel sucked it up and focused heavily on her biology after that discussion, his example of a backward spell of 'heal' leading to someone overhealing and developing a cancerous mass of tissue in place of what was a simple cut, motivated her wonderfully. Plus she learned the magic alongside the biology so she wasn't too bored, just wished she had a way to test it outside of Khalid's mind but no one needed another healer with her mom around.

Training with Thirteen was... weird, both for Mirabel and Thirteen. Thirteen was still kind of in the process of improving control of her abilities herself so it took a few months before she felt comfortable teaching Mirabel bad luck magic and even once she did she often second-guessed herself and confused Mirabel with her explanations. Over the years her teaching improved, by the time Mirabel was 10 she was able to start using the magic with control, choppy control, but control nonetheless.

The issue came when she ran into the same roadblock Thirteen once had of causing others misfortune if she was too excited. Outside of her studies, Mirabel was rarely excited so it took a while for her to learn of this weakness, accidentally causing Isabela to get hit in the face by a rouge football from a kid's football game before it fell onto her plate when Dolores mentioned that Pepa was pregnant at dinner. She and Camilo got a major scolding for laughing but she was far more concerned about the fact she unintentionally hurt someone with her magic once the initial comedy washed over her. 

After this she worked especially hard on her control of bad luck manipulation, she spent almost every free moment she had attempting to reign her control of it in. For months she barely left her room if not for school, chores, using the bathroom, or family meals. After almost two weeks of this Julieta grew concerned and intended to check on Mirabel but instance from Alma that Mirabel was fine led her to leave her be and eventually she forgot her concerns.

After four months of rigorous work on control, Mirabel reached a point where only the most extreme of emotions could lead to bad luck so she finally returned to going out in her free time, excited to start something she'd been planning to try doing since she was 5 that was delayed because of her control issues.

*Flashback*

"Senora Zatanna, can I ask you a question?" Mirabel asked after having tried to say a particularly long word backward and failing a few times.

"You just did, Bel" Zatanna chuckled at the pout that elicited from Mirabel, "Okay okay, I'm just joking, fire away kiddo"

"Why do you dress up like that? It's nice but I've never seen anyone wear clothes like that," Mirabel flinched back at the exaggerated wide eyes Zatanna had at the end of that statement.

"Wait wait wait, what!? You've never seen an outfit like this? Have... have you never seen stage magic?" Zatanna asked in an exaggerated panicked tone.

"Umm, no, before meeting you I'd never seen magic other than my family," Mirabel's voice went quiet at the end and she blushed at the incredulous stare this garnered.

"Mirabel! I can't believe you've never seen stage magic! This is unacceptable! Wait, have you just never seen it or is it not a thing in your village at all!?" Zatanna's eyes widened as if realizing a more horrifying truth, having gotten that the Encanto was incredibly isolated due to the mountains surrounding it.

"Umm, I think it's the second one. The only magic that anyone talks about is from the Candle," Mirabel huffed, slightly annoyed by this because she had attempted to tell Abuela about her magic and her learning to use it but was brushed off as trying to get attention and told to stay out of everyone's way regarding chores.

"Oh, this cannot stand!" Zatanna clenched her fist and held it in front of her dramatically as if swearing something before abruptly squealing excitedly before picking Mirabel up and hugging her tightly. "I can't believe I get to be the one to introduce you to stage magic! Just sit right there and observe and hey if you like it enough maybe you could do it at the Encanto, I'll even show you my personal tips and tricks!" 

/////

And she really did, enjoy it that is. She decided that once she was ten she was going to do those shows in the Encanto for the kids, she'd been shown how to do it both with and without magic from Zatanna for the last 5 years so she was sure this would be amazing.

"Abuela, I finished all my chores, can I go out? I'm supposed to babysit Rodriguez for the Lopez family today!" Mirabel told the half-truth, she did agree to babysit the 4-year-old and she would... he'd be in the very front of the audience, that counts right? Right.

"Yes, Mirabel you can go, just don't distract anyone while you're there," Alma waved her off with a shooing motion, not even bothering to look away from the papers of potential suitors for Isabela.

"Thanks, Abuela, see you at dinner!" Mirabel yelled excitedly as she skipped to the door and left Casita. "Okay, just gotta pick up Rodriguez then go to the stage!

Mirabel had constructed a stage for this event years ago at the edge of the village, far away enough that no one from the family would end up seeing it on their normal routes. Once she was pretty good at using reality manipulation she got to constructing the place with a few trees and once she got better with plant manipulation she added decorations, made curtains out of many flowers, and decorated a header for the stage. The header in question has the words:

"THE MIRACULOUS MIRABEL'S MAGIC EXTRAVAGANZA"

She knew when she put it up there that it would cause questions, Mirabel, and magic in the same sentence. Unless that sentence was "Mirabel doesn't have magic" or "Magic blesses the Madrigals,  other than Mirabel of course" then there isn't a reason to put them together as far as the Encanto believed. She admits she's a little nervous about how they would respond to it, maybe she should have emphasized illusions instead of magic. She knew not every trick would be actual magic, that's just cheating, but once they realize that what if they think she's a liar or something?

"It's too late to worry about that, you knew that using the word magic would generate more buzz, just focus and have fun" Mirabel whispered to herself before knocking on the Lopez family door picking up Rodriguez to babysit, and heading off toward the end of the village where her stage is.

"Where are we going, Mirabel?" Rodriguez asked Mirabel as they walked, looking up at her as he grabbed onto her hand.

"Well Rodriguez, we are going to the first-ever magic show in the Encanto!" Mirabel grinned at Rodriguez. 

"What's a magic show? Are the Madrigals going to be there!?" Rodriguez exclaimed, bouncing a little as they walked in his excitement.

"Well, I'll be there so one of them but overall no, and to answer what a magic show is, I don't wanna ruin the surprise," Mirabel grinned mischievously as they approached the stage causing Mirabel to pause and blink slowly at the number of people who came. "Oh... wow, I expected a lot but I didn't expect like a quarter of the parents and... is that Diego? But he hates my g- oh! Nevermind, that makes sense"

Mirabel rolled her eyes at realizing that a lot of people who harassed her were in the audience, clearly here so they could disparage her. She sighed and decided she'd simply have to amaze them too.

Mirabel whispered "elbisivni em ekam" after making sure no one saw her and then quickly dropped a flabbergasted Rodriguez on the front and center seat and whispered "Stay here and enjoy the show bud, I'll see you in a bit! Oh, and don't tell anyone what you just saw yet, don't wanna lose the surprise!" then the 10-year-old ran backstage and changed into an outfit almost exactly like Zatanna's except instead of shorts she wore full-length pants, had a top hat on and held a magic wand.

Mirabel took a deep breath and then whispered, "sthgil gnihsalf htiw egats no raeppa" before appearing on stage with a dozen flashing lights and gave a big smile and spoke "Greetings, my beautiful Audience, I am the Miraculous Mirabel and I am here to mesmerize you!" She exclaimed as she raised her hand and waved it in an arc so the words "The Miraculous Mirabel" appeared over her head as she said them.

The audience gasped in shock and Mirabel's smile widened, taking that as a good sign before having to duck as a rotten tomato was sent flying for her head.

"Get outta here Falsa Madrigal! Your stupid tricks aren't magic!" Diego yelled and a third of the audience yelled in agreement causing Mirabel to frown slightly before smirking.

"Well folks, my first trick would greatly benefit from a participant and I'm so glad to see Diego here volunteering! Let's get him on stage why don't we?" She took off her top hat with a smirk before reaching in and yelling "knurhs tah eht hguorht mih gnirb dna barg em tel!" Causing a giant version of her hand to appear above Diego and drag him up before he reappeared on stage, smaller than Mirabel's hand as she held him.

"Ah! What have you done!? Put me down you defect!" Diego yelled in shock as the audience gasped and applauded in awe, even those who initially agreed with Diego conceding that they weren't prepped for something like that to happen.

"Hold on Diego, not yet, first we gotta do the trick, we're going to be cutting you down to size in a sense!" Mirabel grinned as the Audience gasped and chuckled as she called over a box with three sections and a saw before chucking Diego in and canceling the spell as he entered and shutting it. 

To the audience's horror, Mirabel took the saw and cut the box containing Diego into three before separating them and opening them for the Audience to see. The audience erupted into laughter as Diego's head yelled to be put back to which Mirabel looked at the audience, shrugged, and levitated all the boxes to come back together with the head at the bottom and the legs at the top, then opened the boxes to show a Diego walking out in a handstand before falling over. 

"Thank you, Diego, you've been a wonderful participant!" Mirabel exclaimed before bowing to the audience and levitating Diego back to his seat where he got up and stormed off angrily.

After this the rest of the show went off without a hitch, Mirabel faced the audience and gave a deep bow at the end before seemingly vanishing after speaking what the audience came to call her 'magic yapping' and the curtains closed. In reality, she simply teleported backstage changed back to normal, and went back out to pick up Rodriguez. 

"So, did you enjoy the show?" The 10-year-old asked with a slightly nervous grin now that the adrenaline of being onstage had begun to fade.

"That was so cool! When your hand came over Diego I almost screamed, it was so big but then he was small! And then you cut him but didn't hurt him, it was so crazy! How did you do that!?" Rodriguez jumped excitedly as he held Mirabel's hand, his yelling drawing the vacating audience's attention and many doubled back to offer congratulations and ask how she did the things she did.

"Folks, a magician never reveals their secrets! I'll see anyone who wants to see more same time next week! Thank you all for coming! Bye!" Mirabel hastily yelled, overwhelmed with the crowding before she picked Rodriguez up and booked it out of there.

*Flashback end*

/////

For the next few months, Mirabel continued this show, never informing her family, not wanting them to think she was doing it for attention or to get mad she had magic and never showed them. In her defense, she tried to tell Abuela, but she didn't believe her so she dropped it. However, if she's honest with herself, since she had a handle on how to use it she could have proved it but... she just didn't want them to know.

She had a few reasons but the biggest one is that she was scared of how they would react, cause frankly there's no good reaction as far as she's concerned. If they treat her the same she's still the forgettable Madrigal, useless in their eyes, magical or not, not worth sparing a thought to. If they treat her better then it proves they don't care about her for her, they care about the gifts. Their love would be dependent on her being magical like them and that means despite what she tells herself, they couldn't love her giftless...  

That's why she's frozen in horror at the moment. A mere moment ago she was performing her show as normal, noticing nothing amiss until she attempted to scan the audience for a volunteer, and in the back, she locked eyes with a seemingly smiling Dolores, a small smile that Mirabel just could not read the meaning of.

Mirabel quickly blinks and focuses herself to look away before continuing the show as normal. 'Of course she'd know about this, why am I surprised? I mean, I never put some kind of sound-blocking spell around the area, and even if I did people would talk about it anyway, especially with its growing popularity! Ugh, how do I get her not to tell anyone!? I could spell her not to... uh but that's kinda wrong, right? Okay, I'll try to convince her and if she doesn't listen I'll have no choice but to make her keep this quiet.' Mirabel thought quickly to herself as she continued the show.

Once the show ended Dolores found herself floating towards backstage rather quickly, barely catching herself before having her shoulders grabbed by a now normally dressed Mirabel.

"Dolores! Why are you here!? Did you tell anyone about this!? Please say you didn't!" Mirabel shook Dolores very quickly, only allowing her to register every second word, but she pieced the rest together using context.

"Umm, well I heard about the show a lot and I hear the show every week so I thought for once I'd watch it," she quickly explained hoping it would get Mirabel to stop shaking her.

"Okay but did you tell anyone!?" Mirabel exclaimed almost desperately, causing Dolores to wince before dragging Dolores nose to nose and looking her dead in the eye.

"N-no! I didn't tell anyone! Can you let me go now, please? Also, I'm right here, no need to yell Prima!" Dolores pulled her head back to have some space the moment Mirabel let go.

"Sorry, sorry I just... I really don't want the family to know about this. Please don't tell anyone about it, Dolores, please. I know they'll hear about it eventually, I'm actually surprised Camilo hasn't yet but I just want to keep this to myself for as long as I can," Mirabel pleaded, making Dolores wince slightly in sympathy.

Dolores could guess why Mirabel wouldn't want to tell anyone, of course, she couldn't know exactly why but she assumed it was because she didn't want Abuela to force her to do a ton of work and with the variety she showed she'd definitely have more work than most of the family.

"Lo prometo, prima, I won't tell a soul without your go-ahead. I gotta ask though, how did you do all that? Do you have some secret gift or something?" Dolores tilted her head curiously at Mirabel's mischievous smirk.

Mirabel explained the last few years to Dolores, and how she practiced with her coaches, though she left out specifically what she learned from Thirteen which Dolores did notice but decided to leave alone. 

"Wow so... every night you just go off to learn magic? That's so... if I hadn't seen you onstage I wouldn't believe it, it just sounds so outlandish" Dolores said after a moment of shock.

"... Dolores you all get powers from a candle at five years old, me and Abuela have conversations with a house and your mom controls the weather based on her mood. I feel like this is way less outlandish all things considered" Mirabel deadpanned. 

"...Touché" Dolores sighed, "But I'm coming to your shows more often. If you ever have trouble leaving Casita cause Abuela won't let you or whatever just call for me, and I'll come to help you out"

Mirabel couldn't help but snort a little at this and sighed at Dolores' questioning raised eyebrow, "Sorry it's just such an unlikely event, Abuela noticing me enough to keep me in Casita if I don't bother one of you all" 'and you listening out for me' Mirabel didn't say.

Dolores seemed to suspect Mirabel was holding something back but decided to let her keep that to herself, "Well, on the off chance she does, just call for me. I'll make an excuse up so you can leave"

/////

Dolores turned out not to be kidding when she said she'd be at Mirabel's shows more frequently. Mirabel turned out to be right about not needing help leaving Casita, since she started her shows she'd been quite good at leaving her family alone. Sure she wanted to be around them more and wanted to help them but they didn't want the same so why would she risk getting in trouble with Abuela and missing her shows for them? Why would she miss audiences that wanted her there for a family that didn't care one way or another at best and got angry with her at worst? 

Sadly for Mirable and her many fans, she had to significantly slow down her frequency of having shows because her Tia Pepa finally gave birth to her new Primo Antonio. On its own this wouldn't have too much of an effect except that quite quickly Mirabel found herself being put in charge of him quite often. This was only made worse when he was old enough to leave his parent's side and spent most of his nights in the Nursery.

Initially, Mirabel found herself unfairly resenting Antonio a little for the new limits on her freedom, blaming him for her inability to freely continue her outlet. She quickly started to get over that after speaking to Zatara about why she was in such a bad mood during one of his weeks. He sat her down and explained that things were unfair but it wasn't Antonio's fault but the adults in the house for pawning a child off to another child. It was their fault for not getting her a room of her own leaving her stuck sharing with a child. She realized logically he was right but it took a while for her to truly accept it and once she did, she became a lot more attached to Antonio and a lot more angry at the adults in her family.

She didn't express her anger to them, hiding it behind the same smiles she hid her desire for their affection. This information didn't make her love her family any less but it pissed her off, the anger she didn't know what to do with so she used it as motivation to further improve her training and 'practicing' a bit more by occasionally giving the Madrigal adults bad luck here and there, and then doing the same to Isabela on days she was particularly annoying. Well into her last years in life will she laugh about the time her bad luck magic caused Pepa to trip whilst holding coleslaw that spilled onto Alma's lap who instinctively jumped up bumping into the table and causing some beetroot on the edge of the table to fall onto Agustin's lap causing him to jump up forgetting he was holding water making it splash into Julieta's face who when trying to blindly reach for a napkin to wipe herself knocked a pitcher of orange juice over onto Felix's lap. She's done many crazy things with her magic but to her, that will always be her greatest feat.

But she swallowed her anger and took care of Antonio, her shows continued but they were a lot more sparse now, only happening on days Pepa or Felix would plan to spend the day with Antonio and Dolores would give Mirabel a heads up if they planned it in advanced so she could let people know.

This continued until around Antonio's 3rd Birthday when she felt comfortable bringing him to the shows as an audience member allowing her shows to resume, though she did tell him it was a secret and used her magic specifically on Antonio so he wouldn't see her face as the performer replacing it with a random girl from schools when performing and made an illusion of herself seated next to him in the audience. The audience found this adorable and no one really commented on it aside from comments here and there about "Wow, she's in two places at once!" and "Wait did Mirabel always have a twin?". 

Mirabel was especially happy with herself for this decision when one dinner after a show Antonio told Pepa that Mirabel brought him to a magic show when she asked what he did that day. To make things worse, his immediate reaction was to clap his hands over his mouth and turn to Mirabel and say "Sorry, I forgot that was a secret, Mirabel!"

The entire family turned to look at Mirabel in response with raised eyebrows except Dolores who looked at her with wide eyes, worried about how she'd get out of this one. Two skills learned from years of stage work came in clutch to save Mirabel at this moment, improvisation and faking a smile (though to be fair, she learned the latter from before she started the magic shows already)

"Oh, um, well this is embarrassing," Mirabel scratched the back of her head and faked a blush, "Antonio said he wanted to see you guys all working today but I didn't want to get in anyone's way so I called it a magic show and snuck around showing him you guys using your gifts to help everyone"

"Aw, that's adorable. Next time you want to show him me working you can just come up to me Sobrina, no need to hide!" Pepa smiled at Mirabel then Antonio who looked relieved that Mirabel was able to spin it so the secret was kept. He didn't know why it was a secret but he didn't want to upset Mirabel by ruining it.

"Unless she is busy, Mirabel, don't interfere with her work," Alma interjected, garnering a cloud from Pepa and a frustrated look from Felix which deepened when Pepa was chastised for her cloud.

Most of the family just nodded and got on with eating, Camilo however looked between Mirabel and Antonio with narrowed eyes. Camilo knew the look of relief from someone who just dodged trouble and those two very clearly had those signs.

After dinner, Camilo intercepted Mirabel on her way to the nursery.

"Hey, Prima, just wanted to let you know that I know about the magic show so no need to lie about it to me," Camilo smirked.

Mirabel internally panicked for less than a second, had Dolores ratted her out? No, why now? She's had years to do it, at this point why would she?  Unless... yeah he's trying to play her.

"Yeah I know you know, I just told the whole family remember?" Mirabel said casually before walking around Camilo to the nursery before he stopped her with a hand on her shoulder.

"Antonio already told me the actual truth, Prima, just give it up," he tried to sound casual.

"Okay, well what did he tell you?" Mirabel turned and asked him with a smirk.

"Well, pfft, uh... you know? Everything..." Camilo stammered, unsure of how to respond to that.

"Yeah, thought so, goodnight Camilo," Mirabel said with a smile as she retreated to the Nursery.

Not this would be the end of it... if Camilo wasn't Camilo goddamn Madrigal! Camilo wasn't going to let this go until he had answers, he refused to be suckered! He's the one that does the suckering damn it! So he persisted, he asked Mirabel every moment they were away from listening ears (other than Dolores cause duh) the next few days and then eventually he asked her at school, figuring he'd have more time away from the family there than anywhere else and who else's opinion on it would matter?

"Come on, it can't be that serious, Prima! How can some random know you have some show and not tell your favourite Primo?" Camilo mock whined with a cheeky grin.

"Ugh, just drop it Camilo, it's nothing! Also favourite Primo? Sorry, but Antonio is too cute for you to have ever stood a chance" Mirabel smirked at Camilo's dramatic reaction, raising his hands to cover his heart and gasping for air.

"Betrayal! I can't believe you'd replace your Mellizo so easily!" Camilo then straightened up and put an arm around Mirabel's shoulders, "No but come on seriously my curiosity will be the death of me! Just tell me!" 

"Sorry Milo, I don't wanna talk about it and I'm not going to so just drop it!" Mirabel huffed and took his arm off her shoulder before moving on to class.

Camilo narrowed his eyes at her retreating form, "No, no I don't think I will, Prima, I think I'll find out about your little show by myself then. No matter what mountains I must climb! No matter what ocean I must swim! No matter what secret society I must join and overtake! I will find out about your show, Mirabel Madrigal!" Camilo said to himself in a somewhat hushed tone.

"Oh, you talking about Mirabel's magic show?" A random kid a year below Camilo said casually.

"I- um.... yes? Tell me everything you know about it!" Camilo sighed, not sure whether to be happy the answer was so simple to obtain or upset his great quest had been ruined before it could start.

/////

"GUYS MIRABEL HAS A MAGIC SHOW HAPPENING ON SATURDAY AND WE NEED TO GO SEE IT!" Camilo exclaimed as he burst into Casita after school that day, having run ahead of Mirabel to get home, even taking shortcuts so he'd beat her there.

"I'm sorry, what?" Julieta, who was at the house at the moment to pick up some extra food for her stall, poked her head out of the kitchen looking confused at this sudden outburst. 

"Camilo, there's no need to yell. Now what did you say?" Alma asked as she came down the stairs, Isabela behind her already rolling her eyes assuming Mirabel did something to get in trouble. Seriously does she not see how hard Isabela works to keep Abuela's focus on her, why does she have to go and draw attention to herself and get herself scolded again?

"Sorry Abuelo, I was just saying that Mirabel has a magic show happening on Saturday and we should all go as a surprise!" Camilo tried to calm down, but the explanation that the kid gave him made him so excited and very VERY confused!

"Camilo we have more important things to do than entertain children watching you do your chores. If Mirabel wants to show more kids like she did Antonio then fine as long as it doesn't interfere," Alma dismissed.

"No, no that's just it Abuela! She was lying about showing Antonio us! She was the one doing the 'magic'" Camilo used air quotes while saying it, "I think it's partly illusions but I heard Mirabel was doing some actual magic! On a stage! In front of an audience!" 

Camilo was excited, he wasn't sure how much he bought that Mirabel was hiding some gift she was using on stage but who knows? Some other kids joined in and built on the first guy's story so maybe she has some actual magic or some REALLY cool tricks! Most importantly though Mirabel PERFORMED! On a stage! Camilo always wanted to do that! He just hasn't had the chance cause, you know, chores. 

Following Camilo's statement there was silence for a moment before Alma frowned.

"What do you mean Mirabel did magic?" Alma asked slowly.

Camilo then explained to them what the boys at school explained to him and watched as they all looked more and more confused.

"Okay... well it sounds like Mirabel is doing tricks on a stage to me but some of that is a little unbelievable without magic... are you sure these boys are umm... of sound mind?" Alma asked slowly, trying to see if there was something she missed in that explanation to make sense. She very vaguely had a memory in the back of her head of Mirabel claiming to have magic but that was just the overactive imagination of an upset child.

"Mama!" Julieta exclaimed, scandalized by the accusation of insanity.

"To be fair she said Mirabel lifted someone through a hat Mama, that is a little insane even by our standards," Isabela defended Abuela, mostly because she had the same question.

"Your Tia stubs a toe and starts a thunderstorm, how is this crazy by our standards?" Julieta asked with her hands on her hips. 

"Well, we-" Isabela starts before being interrupted by Camilo.

"Does any of that really matter? Why don't we all just go and see and find out? It's Saturday! Mirabel obviously doesn't want us to know about the show so we should surprise her or she won't tell us?" Camilo stares at Alma with wide eyes, ignoring Isabela's glare at being interrupted. 

"Fine, what time is the show though, we will need to rearrange the timing for your chores appropriately," Abuela says, wanting to investigate this. If Mirabel is actually using Magic, she wants to know why and how long she's been hiding it and how she got it. The magic from the Candle saved the Encanto and helped the village so of course it's trustworthy, it's good but magic in general isn't exactly trustworthy. If it's not magic then she'll need to tell her to change the name of this 'show', the only magic in the Encanto is from the Miracle so Mirabel needs to make it clear to the people that this isn't real magic.

/////

The next few days had been weird for Mirabel, she'd noticed more eyes on her in the house than was normal. At first, it was just Abuela, Camilo, Isabela, her Mama, and Dolores. The next day at breakfast it was everyone, she was used to attention but that was stage work, she was not at all accustomed to her family paying her a normal amount of attention for a long time, much less whatever this was. 

She finally figured out what was going on when Dolores approached her and told her that the family figured out what was happening and to say Mirabel freaked out would be an understatement. Mirabel had an accident releasing a surge of bad luck magic accidentally, something she hadn't done in years before she took deep breaths and convinced herself it would be okay.

She considered simply canceling the show but she'd only recently regained the same audience size she had before she had to slow down and she didn't want to lose that by proving to again be unreliable. She considered spelling them all so they wouldn't know it was her but the show had her name and the entire audience would mention it was her show. It may work to make it so they hear and read her name as another's too but then she'd need to consistently reapply it on them.

She eventually decided to just let them come and watch and she'd see how they reacted. If they reacted positively then it should be fine, if they were jerks about it then she'd... leave. She barely feels welcome there as is, I mean she shares a nursery with a 5-year-old! If they're going to be rude about her passions then she'd pack her bags and leave. Building herself a home wouldn't be hard, it'd be even easier than building the stage now that her abilities have improved further. Yeah, it's fine, she doesn't need their approval, it'd be nice to have but she's fine without it. Maybe she sounds like a dramatic 13 year old but who's going to be able to make her stay if she wants to leave?

Without any of them realizing it, the Madrigals had entered a very dangerous game that could cost them a family member.

/////

On Saturday Mirabel goes about her day as if it were any other day, making a point not to act as if the family's attention was getting to her. She does however try to guess how every family member is actually feeling behind their hasty attempts to act normal at breakfast.

From what she can tell Isabela seems to be annoyed evidenced by her being extra snappy today, Julieta seems slightly anxious along with Agustin and Luisa seems to be anxious guessing from her eye twitching but that's been happening all week whenever Mirabel talks to her so it may just be that she's having more trouble keeping their plans to attend her show secret since today's the day. The warm side of the family is the easiest to read, Camilo seems excited if his slight bouncing in his seat is any indication, Felix seems relaxed like normal, Dolores seems slightly nervous and Pepa seems as if today is any other day. 

Mirabel goes about her day as if it were any other day, nervous but beating those feelings down. She decided she'd go as normal and will take whatever happens in stride so that's what she's going to do!

Once Mirabel is changed backstage she takes a peak from behind the curtain to see if her family is there and she takes a quick intake of breath at their presence.

"Okay, Mirabel, you got this!" Mirabel shakes her hands as if trying to expel the nerves, "No matter what, you'll be fine, you've got this!"

Mirabel then says "egats no raeppa" as she throws glitter that pops out of her wand into the air, creating the appearance of her appearing in a shimmer of glitter and covering her in glitter. 

"Greetings, my beautiful Audience, I am the Miraculous Mirabel and I am here to mesmerize you!" She exclaims before waving her wand over her head in an arc to create the golden words "The Miraculous Mirabel" completing her show's opening as she always does, feeling her confidence swell as she goes on.

"Well, folks today I'll be joined for a bit by some good friends of mine!" Mirabel grins excitedly as she moves her hands up then towards herself causing two trees near the stage on either side to hop out of the ground and seemingly walk towards her, "Say hello to Oakly and Woody!" 

The audience gasped and 'oooh'ed at the trees moving towards the stage, the Madrigals in particular shocked at this display of magic. They'd already been shocked by her sudden appearance on stage and the lights but they were able to convince themselves that those could potentially be incredibly well-done illusions using tools but this was too large to be an illusion in most of their eyes.

"Isabela, are those actually trees or something else?" Camilo nudged his Prima in the ribs to ask which he received a light slap over the head for.

"How would I know? How could she fake it though?" Isabela hissed at Camilo.

"Well, you control plants, right? See if you feel like you can control them but don't and we'll know," Camilo shrugged as if it were obvious.

"... Shut up," Isabela blushed lightly at having not thought of that before attempting it. "Those are real trees, I don't know how she's doing it but those are real"

"Well folks I'm sure you're curious how these friends of mine will helping so I'll show you!" Mirabel exclaimed before dramatically yelling, "egats eht revo selcric ni taolf dna ylthgirb wolg."

The two trees began to glow and float above the stage.

"Well we can't have a good show without lighting now can we!?" Mirabel exclaimed as the audience jumped in surprise once the trees glowed and flew before bursting into applause.

/////

The Madrigals were in shock by the end of the show, all but Camilo and to a lesser extent Alma came expecting tricks and illusions to look like magic. What they'd just seen could NOT be that! 

Mirabel did things the Madrigals had never even considered possible without the Miracle's aid. Mirabel teleported on stage, manipulated plant life in a way that even Isabela had never done (in her defense though she's never tried), and made those trees glow and fly and that was only the beginning. Mirabel had at some point caused the audience to fly, pulled a tiger out of her hat, and at some point even turned the tiger into a bunny.

This wasn't some weird late gift as far as they could tell, it was like a bunch in one, she was entirely altering reality! At some point in the show Mirabel had even gotten slightly overzealous with a trick where she CUT HERSELF IN HALF (unbeknownst to the audience, this was just an illusion, just slightly botched) and caused some actual damage to herself which she then simply healed. Just waved her hand over it, some gold light and bing bang healed! So she's casually using both Julieta AND Isabela's gifts!

The responses from the Madrigals were not all the same though besides the shared shock. 

Julieta was happy for her daughter, she hadn't seen Mirabel smile so freely in years. She'd seen her smile, almost daily in fact but how honest have those smiles been? She'd never known how fake they were until she saw that smile on Mirabel's face every time she addressed the audience or every time she did a new trick or heard the audience's gasps. She felt some guilt, guilt that her daughter felt she had to keep this hidden from her but she didn't know why she chose to.

Luisa shared in her mother's joy but felt some fear, fear for Mirabel. This was an extraordinary gift... power? It was strong magic is the point, and it could be used. She didn't want that for Mirabel, for Mirabel to end up working all day, all the time like her. Luisa could handle it, she's the strong one, and it's her duty but Mirabel? Not that Mirabel is weak but... she shouldn't have to. She should get to relax, she's her baby sister, and she doesn't want her to overwork herself... not like she does.

Alma and Isabela shared the thought that it was quite selfish of Mirabel to hide this and not use it to help the Encanto, instead using it purely for fun. Alma's thoughts drifted from that quite quickly to concern for Mirabel and the Encanto. The new generation, no actually, no generation after her own would understand this fear of hers. They've been exposed to magic, kind benevolent magic in the shape of the Miracle for so long that they wouldn't understand that most magic is considered evil, dangerous, and immoral. This magic could be a danger to Mirabel herself, the Encanto, and the family. If they cannot show that this magic is in some way connected to the Miracle then they would have no way of knowing its nature. 

Could this be why Bruno left? Did he see this magic doing something to harm everyone? Perhaps that thought is an overreaction but Alma has nothing to use as a point of reference on how to proceed and is simply grabbing at whatever she can to see how to respond.

"Thank you, my wonderful audience! I hope you all had a magical time!" Mirabel grins widely and bows before mumbling while bowed to teleport backstage. 

"Ugh, crap! I didn't wanna have this talk yet, I thought it'd happen at least after Antonio got his gift!" Mirabel whined as she put her wand away and slumped into her chair, waiting for her family to come around back to talk to her.

"Of course, once they hear I have magic they go out of their way to remember I exist, ugh, jerks" Mirabel mumbles.

Unnoticed by the family, Dolores winces slightly, her concerns that this entire situation could get out of hand doubling at hearing that from Mirabel.

"Mirabel! That was amazing! You were all like 'blah blah blah blah!' And the trees were all like 'swoosh swoosh' and the audience was freaking out!" Camilo excitedly exclaims the moment he sees Mirabel, failing to take notice of the somewhat thick atmosphere most of the family have after seeing a frown on Alma's face.

"Ha, yeah, thanks," Mirabel smiled awkwardly, taking note of the different expressions on her family's faces. Luisa looked excited but Mirabel could see some fear behind her expression, her Mama and Papa smiled warmly but clearly were somewhat confused and Isabela was glaring but when wasn't she glaring at Mirabel?

Felix and Pepa like Camilo were smiling excitedly, Dolores looked worried and Antonio like always smiled wide after her show.

"Yeah, you did great out there, Hermanita!" Luisa grabbed Mirabel up for a hug, hoping it would convey the message to Mirabel that no matter what happened next she had her back. 

"Thanks, Luisa!" Mirabel patted her on the back with a less strained smile, having received the message loud and clear before being put down.

"That wa-" Pepa started only to be cut off by her Mama.

"So, how long have you been keeping this hidden, Mirabel?" Alma asked with a stern look directed to Mirabel.

"Well, umm, it's been going on for a while now" Mirabel somewhat nervously responded, "a few years actually"

"I see, and why have you not deemed it necessary to inform me that you had magic?" Alma narrowed her eyes slightly.

"Well, I actually kind of did tell you. When I was 5, after my ceremony, but you ignored me," Mirabel said nervously, she knew she could have proven it once she actually learned magic but why was that on her? She was ignored, that was Abuela's choice so why is it her responsibility to prove it to her?

Alma stopped for a moment to try and remember this and had a vague memory of Mirabel saying she was going to learn magic from her dream people or something like that.

"You mean to say that nonsense about your dream teacher was real!?" Alma exclaimed in shock.

"Well considering it's real I wouldn't call it nonsense but yes," Mirabel said confidently, emboldened by her annoyance with her Abuela for brushing her off so easily back then.

"Mirabel, is this magic related to the Candle at all?" Alma asked, now hoping to address her concerns.

"Nope, not even a little bit," Mirabel quickly responded, unsure if this was the response her Abuela wanted or not but decided not to lie for approval.

"Then how are you sure that it's safe?" Alma asked in a clipped tone.

"I... what? Safe? I know it's safe because I use it, I've seen it being used. It's as safe as any of the family gifts" Mirabel exclaimed, genuinely angry at the idea that her teachers would teach her anything malevolent. 

"So it does not affect your mind or your feelings or anything of the sort?" Alma asks.

"NO!" Mirabel yelled, her face darkening a shade of red from her anger.

"Good. Now, Mirabel, keeping things like this hidden is unacceptable, do not do it again. Now we should find a more suitable use for this magic, it seems too versatile to be used for something like this little show when it could benefit the com-" Alma starts, having gotten her concerns out of the way.

"No," Mirabel blankly states.

The entire family is put on edge now, stuck looking at Mirabel in shock and nervously at Alma for her reaction.

"... No? Mirabel, we must use our gifts to benefit the community," Alma states sternly, trying to remain calm in this defiance. 

"I'm not sure I agree with that but even if I did, I still don't actually have a gift," Mirabel shrugs, "I mean I have magic but it has no relation to the Candle so that wouldn't apply to me"

The entire family pauses for a moment to process this information, Isabela clenching her fists slightly in frustration that Mirabel gets to avoid responsibility even when she does have power.

"But even with that, we are the Madrigals, it is our duty to help the community so-" Alma blinks in shock at Mirabel as she interrupts her again.

"I mean, I've wanted to help, before I could really use my magic you said to stay out of everyone's way. I'm getting mixed signals here, also I'd argue I am helping the community with entertainment," Mirabel states blandly again. "I mean, that's what Camilo does for the kids and that's not useless so I'd say this isn't either."

Alma seems about to speak again but is stopped when Mirabel continues, "Also, a lot of things the Madrigals have and don't apply to me. I don't have my own room, I don't have a gift and with some help, I don't care all that much about your approval" Mirabel shrugs.

The entire family gasps, to the Madrigals aside from Antonio, outright not caring for approval from Alma isn't feasible. 

"Cariño, what do you mean?" Julieta tentatively asks, worried her daughter may be losing her way like Bruno before her.

"I don't care about Abuela's approval, I think I'm being pretty clear. I mean, this family is sort of... I mean, I don't want to say a mess exactly but..." Mirabel shrugs.

"Mirabel, you will not speak about your family this way!" Alma says sternly, having gotten over her shock.

"What way? Truthfully? I mean, look at us! Most of you guys don't really speak to me unless you have to, Luisa is very obviously being overworked, Dolores quite literally does not get a break other than when she's in her room and Tia Pepa isn't allowed to feel her feelings because you'll get mad at her!" Mirabel exclaims in anger, "I barely get to just talk to Mama, my own mother because you make her do all that work for the community! Isabela is almost always acting, I mean I didn't notice it before but after developing my own stage persona it's kind of obvious! I literally don't know my own sister other than seeing her when she gets annoyed or angry!"

The family goes silent as they listen to Mirabel rage about the state of the family, the adults looking at each other and silently agreeing while Isabela and Luisa desperately avoid eye contact with anyone after being called out. Dolores sighs slightly, both relieved and annoyed at someone noticing her struggles.

"And that's not even all of it! I mean why was Camilo babysitting at like 7!? He was a kid! But clearly, you don't care about age considering I've been the one who had to sacrifice work time to... you know what, not worth it, my point is that this family is a mess and it's all because everyone is so so desperate not to disappoint you and I'm making it clear I won't be next. I have magic, yes, I am a Madrigal more in name than anything though because I will not burn myself to keep this community warm." Mirabel sighed, only beginning to calm down once she remembered Antonio was in the room.

The entire family stood in silence, Alma looking around at the family to see their reactions to this hoping to see that Mierabel was overreacting, but the entire family looked forlorn and uncomfortable.

"I... I see. I.. I had not realized I have been hurting you all so much," the entire family looked to Alma in shock that she would so easily admit to her mistakes but Alma simply could not think of any reasonable arguments against Mirabel once she saw how they took her words.

"I... I simply did not want us to lose put miracle, I hope you all know that. I only wanted the best for us, to not lose our home like I did all those years ago," Alma said in a somber tone. "If... if you're all unhappy though then maybe we can talk about what's wrong and improve?" 

Alma looked at the family, seeing them slowly look at her, and slowly they accepted all with different levels of belief.

"... I should mention by the way, it's a family miracle, not a community miracle, it's functionality is based on the state of the family," Mirabel says deadpan, "so if anything you've been doing more to damage the miracle by catering to the community at the family's expense"

The entire family freezes momentarily and looks at Mirabel in shock who shrugs in response to their surprise.