Chapter Text
“You have to stop, Mirabel!” Abuela’s dark eyes were furious as she shouted, the older woman’s normally prim gray hair slightly frizzed out.
The fifteen-year-old froze in her excitement, her smile disappearing as a look of confused hurt passed over her face. She seemed to shrink in on herself slightly, nervously picking at her fingers.
Abuela continued from where she left off, apparently now being the time to let loose her anger on the teenager. “The cracks started with you. ” she seethed, the words spitting out of gritted teeth. " Bruno left because of you. ” Loud cracking started to split across the house, etching up the walls. Mirabel’s eyes widened, her breathing picking up slightly as Abuela advanced on her.
“Luisa’s losing her powers. Isabela’s out of control.” Abuela angrily gestures to both girls, who are quiet and looking at the ground uncomfortably. Mirabel couldn’t help but feel slightly hurt- they weren’t going to step in to help her? Or bring up anything? “ Because of you! I don’t know why you weren’t given a gift, but that is not an excuse for you to hurt this family!”
Mirabel’s breath got even heavier, the floor creaking underneath her as she took a step back. Tears fogged over her vision, and she bit down on her lip heavily.
“I- I only-” A harsh, ragged breath escaped her as Mirabel ran a hand through her frazzled curls, knocking her glasses askew. She looked down at the cracks in the floor tile, feeling small and uncertain. She pulled both hands down over her face roughly, the tears starting to prickle and burn at the corners of her eyes. Exhaustion burned at the back of her mind, settling on her shoulders like a heavy weight from Luisa’s room. She looked up-
Abuela Alma’s unforgiving, harsh gaze sent Mirabel running up the stairs, silent tears streaming down her face as she sluggishly shoved her way past fallen pieces of furniture, disregarding the upturned plants and jagged pieces of pottery as she turned towards her room. Actually... She didn’t want to be in the nursery again. It wasn’t really her room, after all, was it?
At that thought, she turned right back around and cautiously peeked over the railing from behind a rather large fern. Abuela was still standing there, her heavy presence stiff and angry. Luisa and Isabela were awkwardly eyeing each other. Mirabel put a hand over her mouth, stifling the sob of misery that wanted to escape her and announce her presence. The brown-eyed teenager pressed herself to the wall, slowly making her way across the corridor as quietly as she could.
When she got to the painting that hid Bruno’s life in the walls from everybody else, she slipped through and crumpled to the floor. A small noise escaped from her as she tucked her knees up to her chest, hands pressed up against the sides of her head as she wept into her skirt. A hand pressed gently onto her shoulders, and a jumpy peek up at her tio Bruno saw his deeply empathetic and sad expression.
The fifty-year-old slid to the floor next to her, merely wrapping an arm around the girl’s shoulders and pulling her into him awkwardly. She trembled in his grasp, her tears coming in heavy sobs now as he gently soothed her.
— — — — — — — — — — — — — —
Outside the walls, Casita trembled. Not out of the family’s dysfunction, glee, or even worry… Anger. Casita was absolutely furious. Their tiles swirled around the second floor, cascading downstairs and underneath the feet of everybody in a wrathful surge. Alma had hurt their little miracle, their pequeña vela. Mirabel was the one who interacted with them the most often, treating Casita like they were a part of the family.
Another furious surge of tiles had the family be washed towards a wall, a nearby door scooting all the way over as they connected their magic to what was needed. A door to where they would understand their mariposita, and wouldn’t be able to leave. For the most part. They might find that they would be able to open it after some points of the movie. Or only certain people could leave. Only Casita knew what could pass through the doorway and walls. The door burst into a shimmering, twinkling gold without even the aid of somebody’s hand- the continuous surge sending the family stumbling through the door.
The golden magic disappeared from the door, cascading through the wall and to the other side of the rectangular room. Everybody stared disbelievingly at what was happening, Alma Madrigal in particular. She hadn’t thought the magic could do this. It seemed so… so.. Alive. It sank into the back wall, reaching into the floor and summoning forth several couches and comfortable chairs. Along the right wall and leading to the shimmering magic, was a table full of snacks.
For some reason, a smaller coffee table had quite a few tissue boxes and a single remote. The magic flashed brightly, nearly blinding the entire family. In place of the magic, were two words in warm, light gold. The few lights that were in the room dimmed down to a faint glow.
The Madrigal matriarch’s eyes widened in shock as the rest of the family gathered together and attempted to calm each other down. Another pulse of magic shook the room, gathering the attention of the rest of the Madrigals to look at the makeshift screen.
Look at what this family has come to.
The words were scrawled furiously, no.. scornfully across. Everybody was quiet, looking at each other with confusion and dismay at what casita had done.
I must confess I am disappointed. You have hurt mi pequeña vela. This… is unacceptable. The following events have occurred before the incident and show what may happen in the future if you are not careful. Watch and learn, you will not be able to leave this room until the rift has been mended. You will be able to pause as you will- keep in mind that this is a privilege. If abused, it will be taken away.
The words shimmered out of view, spiraling in together tightly before exploding into a curtain of golden magic that sank into the walls and no longer became visible. Instead, a blue screen with white text emerged. A soft sound tinkled through the walls, the tune wordless as it showed a large castle. The family stood in stunned silence, before rushing to find a spot on the couches.
Camilo, ever-hungry, grabbed a large bucket of popcorn that had seemingly already been made. Nabbing a couple of packets of chocolate candies as well, he flopped into the remaining chair to watch what was coming.
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mi pequeña vela - my little candle
mariposita - little butterfly