Chapter Text
The darkness of night had come quickly. Recent events were still deeply shaking the Madrigals. Casita had collapsed, just like that, the Madrigals had hit rock bottom and had no chance to understand this fact until it was too late. Still, some members of the dysfunctional family had seen this tragedy draw near. The first hidden between the walls, under a formidable silence about the things he had seen approaching, praying that his non-intervention would somehow prevent this fate from being sealed as inevitable. The other a young woman, a girl who knew more than she let on, who has learned to shut up her worries and the secrets spilled from the mouths of others, which she couldn't help but hear. Another, an older woman with a strong character and stubbornness, who only wanted to see what she wanted to see, believe what she wanted to believe, and refused to admit the truth in front of her nose, despite the great pain it caused her, wasn't surprised at the end by the way things turned out. In her effort not to lose her home, she ended up causing its downfall. And finally, one last young woman, the youngest of all, had received the signs, she had learned the truth and despite the fact that no one believed her, she decided to step forward and do something about it, refusing to let everything collapse in front of her. She heard her cue and saw it as an opportunity to prove herself worthy.
But things had fallen apart very quickly. It seemed that the moment one of the Madrigals became aware of their flaws, their cracks, everything went against the clock, and time was up. Yet still stunned by events they hadn't seen coming, the family quickly shook off their shock and focused on more pressing matters, in some ways far more distressing than the loss of their home.
Because Mirabel had left. Fled to who knows where and with who knows what intentions, but the Madrigals had three things very clear. One: that Mirabel blamed herself for everything, two: that this wasn’t the first time a member of the family has left them and Three: that none of them were willing to lose anyone else in their family. Therefore, the fear and anguish were palpable in each Madrigal. Night had come in the blink of an eye, the Madrigals had quickly spread out around the town, looking for their youngest female member. And in the middle of all the commotion, was the youngest of the Madrigal: Antonio. Sitting with his knees bent, his arms around them, on a piece of fallen cement, from what had once been part of the walls of Casita, he saw around him the townspeople milling around, completely shocked and unsettled, a small group of villagers, old men and women, talking to each other in whispers, Abuela was with them, although the woman had not said a word, in a trance. Antonio shifted uncomfortably in his place, feeling the heaviness in the air, so that every second became too much for him. He turned around, trying to find even the slightest bit of comfort. He immediately thought of Mirabel, but his cousin wasn't there, that's why everyone was so worried, and he was scared, and his cousin wasn't there to comfort him, so he called the other person who came to mind, and who he knew must be somewhere nearby.
"Mamá! Mamí!" Antonio cried out for his mom, who appeared from the rubble, the woman discreetly wiping a couple of tears from her own eyes, holding in her hands the frame of a freshly taken photo, which she quickly discarded in favor of rushing to her son. Antonio opened his arms and Pepa immediately hugged him against her chest. The boy immediately burst into tears.
"Antonio, what is it, papito? What’s wrong?" The boy cried for a while longer, before speaking between broken sobs.
“E-everything, everything is wrong, why…why did the Casita fall? W-Why was Abuela yelling at Mirabel? And w-where is Mira?!” the boy looked directly at his mom with big eyes shining with tears, clinging to Pepa's dress "I want Mira!" The five-year-old quickly burst into tears. Pepa rocked him, trying to calm her anguish, the woman had a big frown of apprehension at her son's questions. Worst of all is that she didn't have the answers to any of his questions.
“I know, I know, mi niño. Don't worry, we'll be fine. Mirabel…Mirabel is upset, hurt…she needed some time alone.” The woman bit her tongue as a sob threatened to escape her lips, swallowing the lump in her throat, feeling terribly worried about her niece's well-being, but she couldn't point out that concern that weighed on her chest to her youngest son. She knows very well how close they are. She couldn't cause Antonio more anguish.
“Is she hurt? Did she get hurt when Casita fell? Antonio's frightened tone startled her, so she hastily reformulates.
"No! No, Toñito, she's fine, physically… I mean she’s hurt because… you know that harsh and mean words can hurt people too, right? Antonio nodded, sitting back down pouting as he wiped away his tears. Pepa knelt in front of him.
“Abuela said mean things to Mirabel…” he murmured very sadly. Pepa responded in the same way.
“Yes, she did…”
“She was very bad. Why was Abuela mean to Mirabel? She just wanted to help save the miracle! It's not fair." The woman's heart broke when she heard her minor so disconsolate, clearly confused and in conflicted, he couldn’t understand why Abuela was mean with Mirabel, why his family didn't back her up when it all blew up. But Pepa was also concerned when Antonio said something about her niece wanting to "save the miracle", 'Is that what she has been trying all this time? That’s why she had acted so strangely? why she was asking about Bruno?' Knowing that now certainly didn't make her feel any better.
“What if she doesn't want to come back? What if she leaves us like Tío Bruno did? What are we going to do?! I don't want her to go, I love her, I want her! Why would she leave me?" Antonio cried once more. But Pepa did not react immediately, having been frozen by Antonio's words, it is a very present and very real fear that all the older Madrigals felt. Apparently, it had also become clear to the smaller one, she wondered for a moment if Antonio was right. He, although very young, knows his cousin well, probably much more than many members of the family, much more than her.
‘What if Mirabel didn't come back?’ Pepa took a deep breath and frantically shook her head, refusing to believe that they had lost her, that it was too late to make things right. Then, Pepa once again hugged the youngest fiercely.
"Don't say that. Mirabel won't leave, she'll come back, we'll find her” exclaimed Pepa, repeating her words in her mind, wanting to convince herself “She would never leave you, Toñito, she loves you very much. She will soon be back, and then we can all shower her with lots and lots of love."
Pepa praying that her words are true, that Mirabel just needed to clear her mind, that she will eventually come back, that they will find her, that she won't leave like her dear brother did. The woman shook her head ever so slightly, pushing those thoughts away. After a few minutes, the five-year-old's sobs had stopped, and he just hiccupped as he leaned against Pepa's chest. The woman sighed in relief, before returning with a dismayed look towards the confines of the forest. For Antonio's sake, for the sake of this family, Mirabel had to come back.
Time passed, up to three weeks after the collapse of the Casita. That morning turned out to be calm and cool, the sky had turned cloudy and gray, it had rained the night before and the dew covered the green grass and every leaf of tree and bush of the tropical forest around the Encanto. In which forest the little Antonio was now, of course, he wasn’t too deep into it, but at the edge of the forest, he could see the crop field, some workers, and some houses, and even the Casita in the distance. But he was far enough away to be alone. He walked with practiced agility over the upraised roots of the trees, kicking up small stones with his feet and brushing his hand against the dew-covered bushes, getting his hands wet.
Despite the calm atmosphere, the youngest of the Madrigals was completely immersed in heavy conflicting thoughts. Downcast eyes, and without paying special attention to the surroundings, vaguely passing through his mind the voice of his mom warning him to be very careful when being near the forest, because of the wild animals that could be found there. But the boy had never been afraid of animals, neither domestic nor wild, nor insects or arachnids. On the other hand, children his age, unknown adults…maybe he does fear them a little, but never animals; animals can't say mean things to you and they are always there for you, at least that's what he thought. For a moment, he thought that he would never have reason to fear them at all, since he received his gift, because even the ferocious jaguar was his friend, the key word being "was". Because, a few weeks ago he lost his gift, like the rest of his family, and he had only been able to enjoy it for two days. Parce, Pico, and all his other animal friends had fled into the deep forest and he hadn't seen them since, he tried to talk to the birds, dogs, donkeys or cows, and none of them had anything to say or failing that, he could no longer understand them.
Then once again, somehow, he found himself alone. Since then, he often found himself here, on the edge of the forest, looking for a little comfort. Everything had changed so suddenly and he couldn't understand how or why, none of the adults wanted to tell him anything clear. Antonio walked a little further until he stopped dead, his gaze fixed on the floor, feeling the wet earth against his feet, his shoes dirty with mud.
He felt sad, of course, at the loss of his newfound friends, but, if he was alone here today it was because he couldn't even enjoy the company of his favorite person. Mirabel.
Mirabel had always been there for him, whenever he was sad, lonely or scared, was always there available for him, to give him a smile, to play with him, to tell him stories. But overnight other members of his family started wanting to spend time with her, and now she had no time for him. She was always in the day in her sewing projects, or helping in the construction of Casita or with Luisa or Isabela, Tío Bruno or Tía Julieta, even his mom had started talking to Mirabel, and he had never seen her have so lively talks with his older cousin, ever! Now whenever he asked her to hang out to play, she already had someone else to hang out with, she would always apologize with a sorry smile and tell him that they would hang out “another time” except that time had never came! and at the end she would ruffled his hair playfully just like she used to do when it was just the two of them, and which made him laugh and feel very happy, but now it was only beginning to make him sad because right after, she would just walk away and go after whoever decided to steal her away from him this time.
And this fact annoyed him, it made him mad, because now everyone got to hang out with Mirabel and he didn't, and since when did they started to get along with Mira? They had never paid attention to her before. It pissed him off so much that he couldn't help but explode about it the day before. Although now remembering the event embarrassed him a little, for drawing so much attention from his family in that way, but at the same time he is still angry, very angry. The little boy clenched his fists, frowning and slightly pouting as he recalled the events of the previous day, when he realized that if Mirabel had turned away from him, preferring to spend time with others, it was probably his fault, even though he once thought no one more than him deserved her. ‘And tía Julieta, she has always been nice’
THE DAY BEFORE
After a morning full of activities, the Madrigals quickly cleared out. It was mid-afternoon, shortly before dinner, when Pepa entered the modest Rodriguez house through the back door with a big box full of objects, followed by another man, Mr. López, with two other equally full boxes. The woman wore a wide smile as she placed the heavy box on the dining room table. The redhead let out a deep breath.
"Very well! You can place this box here as well. Thank you very much, Mr. López” Pepa said, before starting to investigate among the boxes. Her sister Julieta, who was cooking dinner in the kitchen, turned around to see all the commotion, dried her hands with a cloth and approached the table.
“It's no bother” Mr. López replied kindly. The man nodded towards Pepa and towards Julieta saying goodbye to them "See you then, and please let me know if you need anything else" With that said, the man crossed the back door and left the house.
"Ohh, are all these things recovered from Casita?" questioned the brunette, taking one of her kitchen aprons out of one of the boxes, it was one that Mirabel had made and given her when she was ten years old, back then the girl still needed to sharpen her skills, but the woman always appreciated every gift given by her daughters with all her heart, so she was glad she could still keep some of it.
"Yes, it is! Finally, we have been able to collect all the things, the broken ones have been thrown away or repaired, and the fabrics and clothes have been washed. In fact, we already had them collected a week ago, but with all the work of building the Casita, I only had time to go for this today. And look!" the woman leaned over to her sister, and she whispered covering her mouth out of sight with one hand, as if she were confessing some spicy gossip "Here are some good relics"
Julieta smiled at her sister's good humor. She had never seen her sister as relaxed as she was when she lost her gift, and honestly, seeing her like this made her happy. The sisters spent the next half hour digging up the recovered items, mainly kitchen items, books, some framed photos, tablecloths, trinkets, and even some photo albums. The progress had been little since both women paused their investigation for each object that came out that brought them melancholy memories. And inevitably, they also came across many peculiar objects that belonged to Bruno, in his time living within the walls. This particular discovery weighed heavily on the sisters, who did not mention it to each other as they went on. A while later, Alma had arrived, who covered Julieta's place helping Pepa, and so the woman returned to the kitchen to finish dinner. Shortly after, Isabela had arrived too, after a long day of gardening.
“Is that my old doll from when I was a child? I loved that thing!” she said, before joining them.
Before long, the rest of the Madrigal family had been reunited, except for three of the grandchildren. Camilo was outside, probably having fun with some friends, he had told his mom earlier not to expect him for dinner. Pepa wasn't very happy, but she let it go. Two others who were not found were Mirabel and Luisa, who were having another one of their "sister union" days. Thus, all the others were gathered around the table reviewing the recovered objects while they talked and recalled all the memories that It brought back. Julieta had served some drinks and appetizers to make this little impromptu family gathering more enjoyable. She wished that her other two daughters and her nephew were here. Antonio sat at the table next to his older sister. He quickly leaned over to her and asked in a low, slightly shy voice.
"Where is Mirabel?" Dolores smiled slightly at him, knowing he was probably asking her out of habit. Since with her gift, she usually knew where everyone was and what they were doing. Although she no longer has her gift, she still likes to find out where her relatives are and what their daily activities are. It brings her comfort.
"I think she's with Luisa somewhere in town, bonding as 'sisters,'" she replied quietly. Antonio looked at her for a few seconds with his eyes wide open and frowning.
"Again? But it's the second time this week. And It's only Wednesday!" He complains "Is she coming for dinner?"
“Not sure. She and Luisa might be a little late”
“Why?”
“When you have fun, you don't realize how much time passes." She shrugged.
“Ah…okay” Antonio lowered his gaze discouraged. Dolores briefly stroked his cheek in comfort.
‘Mirabel is not here again… why does she have to go out so much? Is Luisa funnier than me? That's not fair…'
Dolores was about to ask what’s wrong until her Tío Bruno’s voice distracted her
"Ohh! Check it out, It's my theater stage! It is not assembled but I am surprised that the parts aren't broken” Bruno said, presenting said pieces to his nieces, Isabela and Dolores, who were sitting together. Isabela frowned in confusion for the “theater stage” size.
“So…you used to make puppets and performed plays to pass the time?” the young woman questioned, closely inspecting the small stage in her hands.
“Uh…well, no. A-Actually, I had the help of my best actors, the rats!” The man exclaimed, pulling a rat out of his ruana like a magic trick. Isabela leaned back in her seat, startled.
"Rats?!"
“They are very good actors” defended Bruno, with his arms crossed. As if that was Isabela's concern. Dolores next to her smiled knowingly, and she pressed a hand on her cousin's shoulder.
“Tío Bruno writes some of the most interesting novels I ever heard. I think you would like it" Isabela looked at her as if she had grown a second head
"Yeah…sure"
On the other side of the table, the older sisters were glued to each other, inmerse into a photo album. Felix was standing behind Pepa, leaning over to see the photos and Abuela Alma, at the head of the table, also leaned towards them interested
"Oh look, mom!" Pepa exclaimed, bringing the book closer to the woman “It's us as children! weren't we cute?" The woman shows her a photo of the three of them when they were around eight or ten. Pepa was in the middle hugging her siblings by the shoulders, squeezing them with her arms towards her with a huge toothless smile, Julieta on her left wore an amused smile while she saw Bruno on Pepa's right side, wearing an uncomfortable smile trying to escape from Pepa's iron grip.
"You certainly were, mija." the woman smiled.
"There are many photos that were recovered, it's a relief" Agustín commented, on the other side of Julieta, clearly less excited than his wife and sister-in-law for the pictures. The man reached for a framed photo from the bottom of the box, and turned it over to see the picture on it. His face visibly lit up.
“Hey, look! This photo is recent; It is the photo of Antonio's ceremony "
The boy immediately perked up upon hearing his name mentioned. Antonio knelt on the chair and leaned across the table, trying to get to the other side of the table to see the picture. This comment ended up drawing the attention of all the Madrigals, they all came closer and leaned over to see the photo, and comment on the party, once again ignoring the elephant in the room, on the fact that Antonio no longer had his gift as well as everyone else. But, unnoticed by the others, the one most excited of the people present to see their childhood photos, Pepa, had suddenly tensed at the mention of that particular picture. She now remembers, that while they were collecting and putting the items in the boxes, she had put this particular image all the way to the bottom. She wondered how long it would take for the rest of the family to find out what she did when she first saw this picture some weeks ago. She wasn't sure she would like the answer. She felt Felix's hand on her shoulder since the man had also seen the photo before, this time it didn't do much to calm her nerves.
The photo passed through the hands of all the Madrigals, apparently without noticing anything out of the ordinary, which broke Pepa's heart, until it ended up in the hands of her youngest son, who looked at the image for much longer as he remembered—According to him— the best day of his short life. (Of which the worst would then probably follow).
That her youngest son turned out to be the one to notice the problem in this photo was somehow even more heartbreaking for Pepa than if no one had seen anything.
Antonio kept looking at the image carefully, wanting to record in his mind every inch of the image and along with it every second of the memory of his birthday party. He remembers being ecstatic after receiving his gift, and to have all of his animal friends, and he was even happier to be able to share that moment with his loved ones, now that he was just like them. The rest of the Madrigals left the boy with the photo and continued their conversations. All except Pepa and Felix who were looking at their son carefully, wondering. It was only a few seconds after that it happened. Antonio frowned, noticing something strange in the image, before opening his eyes and turning to see his mother.
"Mamá! Mamá!" he exclaimed in a panic, as if he was scared. This caught the attention of the Madrigals, who immediately became worried. Pepa felt her heart stop, knowing what was coming.
"What? What's wrong Toñito, are you okay? Abuela questioned. Julieta inspected him from top to bottom trying to catch any wounds on him, although she couldn't heal it instantly, it was a habit for her to do so anyway. Beside him, Dolores leaned toward him, trying to snap him out of his trance.
"Antonio? hermanito, what is it?" She shook his shoulder trying to get his attention, but he kept looking at his mom confused.
“Mom, something is wrong with the photo. Mirabel is not here!”
"What?!" was the joint cry of Bruno, Isabela and Abuela.
"I don't understand, this is the family photo, she should be here!" he continues exclaiming, tears beginning to gather at the corners of his eyes. Pepa looked at him biting her lip and feeling terrible helpless with herself while her youngest son turned to all the adults, looking for answers. Then the photo was torn from his hands by Isabela, who inspected it closely.
“He's right, she's not here” she stated. And that's when the Madrigals really sunk in on this revelation.
"Oh, my baby" Julieta lamented, bringing her hands to her mouth, stifling a gasp.
"She obviously didn't approach for the photo" defended Isabela. She passing the photo to her parents. Who regretted even more to see it.
“But nobody insisted to her to join to the photo. We didn't even realize she wasn't there on the first place…” Dolores replied, staring into space with a heavy heart. She should have noticed the absence of her cousin, right? So, why she didn't? Bruno scoffed, crossing his arms, suddenly very serious, annoyed. Alma looked around with eyes like a deer in headlights.
"But why? Why didn't Mirabel approach to the photo? She didn't want to be in it?" Questioned the youngest of the Madrigals, still completely confused and feeling very bad for not noticing earlier that she wasn't there, and now that he thinks about it, he doesn't even remember seeing her at any time during the party.
“I don't think that was it, Toñito…” Dolores replied carefully. Not sure that she should tell Antonio about Mirabel's complicated feelings about… her place in her family. Of course, for Dolores, Mirabel is her dear cousin, undoubtedly part of the Madrigal Family, but what she thinks didn't matter if Mirabel felt left out anyway, and honestly, that was no one's fault but theirs. She understood her, she did it, but too late. And it broke her heart to do so, for having failed her. But Antonio, he is only five years old. How much does he know about this whole mess? How much should be told to him?
“All these years I left so that Mirabel would not be an outcast in this family. But it seems like It was useless huh?” Bruno said sarcastically, which only added insult to injury. It was a low blow, but deserved.
“We have to make it up to her. It can't stay like this” Isabela declared. Her parents nodded in agreement, they started making plans between them, like having a talk, outings and activities to make Mirabel see that they were sorry, that she was seen.
Antonio watched as they perked up, planning a thousand more activities with Mirabel. Unlike the others around him, this did not excite or bring him relief. He ignored his own feelings of guilt as he was filled with a feeling of rage completely contrary to his calmer nature. 'No no, this wasn't right, now they have another excuse to spend more time with her, but then when will she spend time with me? That's not fair. Mirabel shouldn't want to spend time with them after how they ignored her, they used to be always so busy. Why is it different now? Why do they care now?'
Then Antonio interrupted.
"What do you care?" Antonio spat, incredibly sharp and serious, frowning at Isabela, his voice however had been so low that she might not have heard him. But she had, they all had. The young woman blinked in shock. Silence suddenly filled the dining room, everyone so surprised by the tone of the youngest, who had always been the sweetest and shyest of children.
"Excuse me?" she replied, between offended and completely confused, completely expecting that she had misheard. Antonio clenched his fists and stood on the chair, trying to stand as tall as Isabela.
“Since when do you care? You hated her!” Several surprised gasps were heard around the table, including Isabela's own.
“Antonio Madrigal-” Felix scolded across the table, interrupted by his niece's furious response.
"What?! what do you know? I never hated my sister!”
"It's not what she used to tell me" he replied, undaunted by the attention she received. His words silenced the young woman, who winced, “None of you noticed that she wasn't in the photo. You had never wanted to spend time with Mira before, I was the only one who wanted her! And now that you suddenly take an interest in her, you took her away from me and she doesn't want to spend time with me anymore, it's not fair!" He slammed his foot against the seat of the chair he was standing on.
"Antonio, please calm down" demanded Pepa firmly.
"No! It's…it's not fair!” the boy began to hyperventilate, tears fell from her eyes “I used to saw her trying to get your attention, but you would always dismiss her saying that you were too busy, that you didn't have time to spend with her. I would hear her constantly sighing in the kindergarten, bored because she had no one to talk to or play with. I used to hear her cry…at night, she would think I was asleep, but I always knew that you ex-ecs-cluded her. Because none of you cared! But I was always there, and she was there for me too. And… and I don't understand why… why no one ever notice her… why she wasn't in the picture. Why-why didn't I notice her absence…” The boy then burst into sobs, collapsing in the chair. The Madrigals went from being confused, dumbfounded, and a little outraged to completely worried. Hearing Antonio's confession of having heard Mirabel cry at night broke their hearts, they wondered how much Antonio really knew about Mirabel's feelings, those that she has been sharing little by little but still does not fully admit. He and Mirabel were close, right? Even if he was just a child, it seems that he was not to be underestimated. Pepa immediately got up and ran to her youngest son, picking him up in her arms. The boy, however, did something she never imagined, he resisted. Still feeling incredibly angry with everyone in the room (and maybe even with himself too) he squirmed in Pepa's arms, trying to get her to release him.
"No! Let me go, you are all bad! You were mean at Mira and now you're stealing her away from me! And none of you deserve her!" Another low blow for all the Madrigals, who shuddered. Pepa's eyes had begun to water too.
"Toñito, please. Mirabel already knows about the photo. And I talked to her about it. She forgives us. It’s fine. Breathe”
“Wait, did you already know about this? And did you talk about it with Mira without telling me first?” her sister Julieta questioned her. Pepa made an apologetic face for not having told her about it.
"What?... Does Mirabel know that she was not included in the photo?" Antonio questioned surprised, but no more relieved, but on the contrary. He believes without a doubt that it must have hurt Mirabel a lot, he would have felt very sad.
“It wasn’t your fault at all, Toñito-” Pepa interrupted herself, overwhelmed
Tears fell in a hot torrent from his eyes. Under the watchful eyes and frowns of his family 'Are they mad at me for yelling at them? Just as Mirabel is probably mad at me, and that's why she prefers to play with Luisa', because I forgot her, now she is forgetting me'. His little heart broke at this realization, feeling the weight of guilt. With a strong shudder he finally gets out of Pepa's iron grip and falls without much care to the ground, the adults around him scream in fear but he falls and immediately runs away, because he didn't have his own room or much privacy in this small house, he ends up locking himself in the bathroom. The minor Madrigal huddled in a corner and wept uncontrollably.
“I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, Mira. Please forgive me, please don't hate me. I need you…I need you, please” he pleaded as he cried, muttering “sorry” over and over again
Antonio would not leave there until after dinner, despite the pleas of his parents.