Chapter Text
It had taken a while to rebuild Casita, obviously. It was a large building that had to house a large family, accounting for it's lack of magical doors and the other rooms that were usually in Casita. But eventually, with the help of the community, they were able to finish rebuilding their beloved house and could start their new journey of learning to navigate life as a family once more. Mirabel placed her doorknob into the Casita's front door and it came to life with the magic that they had all grown so accustomed to over the years. She did it. She returned the magic, it was within her all along and she could feel herself practically vibrating at the flood of emotions she had been hit with at that moment. After the initial realization and rush, Mirabel and Casita's tiles ushered everyone in as music started to play and the Madrigals tested out their gifts, they've been given a new lease on life. Antonio immediately running to play with his animal friends, excited to catch up with them and to see what drama has occurred during the time when he was separated from his gift. Isabella used her pollen to design a dress that was utterly unique and her while Luisa felt relief rush through her at the feeling of effortlessly picking up a heavy potted cactus Isabella had created before getting thrown into a hammock, free to relax, free from her burdens. Tia Pepa and Tio Felix were dancing, wide smiles plastered on their faces, Pepa is finally allowing herself to express her emotions, weather be damned!
And soon, the entire family was being pulled together and a camera danced into their vision with one of Bruno's little rat friends in control (those dudes really were little theatrics at heart) and they smiled, posing before Casita decided to have some fun, pushing the family even closer together. This is what she had wanted. For so long, all Mirabel had wanted was to be included, to feel like she was apart of the amazing Familia Madrigal, and now, with her Abuela by her side, holding on the her proudly, her once lost Tio Bruno clinging onto her for dear life after being jostled by Casita, and her family surrounding her, smiling even though the mess of a picture, she really felt like for the first time since she was 5, she was apart of the family.
The party celebrating the rebuilding of Casita and now the returning of the magic, was huge. Food and drinks were plenty, a lot of it coming from the community itself and the music was blasting, flooding the rooms of Casita, causing everyone to sing and dance (except for poor Dolores who was just trying to readjust to hearing everything all of the time). The energy of the party was vibrant and people were enjoying themselves, so much so that the party went on, until the late hours of the night. Mirabel, despite being exhausted at the events of the day and following party, stayed up, waving goodbye and wishing well nights to the townsfolk as they left, making their way to their own houses for a much deserved slumber.
It wasn't until she heard sleepy murmurs from her cousins, yawns from her sisters, and the cracking and popping of muscled from the adults, that she realized just how late it was and just how tired she was. The family looked upstairs at the glowing doors, replacing the regular rooms that the towns people had helps build for the family. All they had to do was touch the doors and their rooms would be returned to them, just like how they were formed at their Gift Ceremonies.
This fact sent a chill up Mirabel and she was left with one thought that immediately filled her with dread. 'A-am I gonna be stuck in the nursery again?' Mirabel left out a shaky breath, she couldn't go back to sleeping in that nursery. She couldn't go back to sleeping in a rickety twin mattress kept with the intent that only small children could use them until they were old enough to get their own room and magical gift. The stairs were facing Abuela's room so Mirabel couldn't see what her room's door looked like, this did nothing to dampen the dread building quickly in her gut. If she was stuck in that nursery for the rest of her life, she might lose it, she'd be slowly forgotten and things would go right back to how they were, before the fall of Casita.
Abuela had began to move towards and up the stairs before turning around to her family and announcing. "Today has been wonderful, mi familia! Come! Let us open our doors once again and get some well deserved rest." She smiled down at her family before turning and being met with Mirabel's Mom and Papi, Tia Pepa, and Tio Felix as they hurried up the stairs and towards Abuela. The grandkids started to follow, slowly ascending the stairs.
Now Bruno, not in a hurry to go back to his nightmare of a room, filled to the brim with sand and stairs and still not feeling like he was truly assimilated into the family, stayed behind, handling his rats to keep himself busy. Letting the rest of his familia go up first. But he soon realized that his youngest sobrina had only walked up the first few stairs before stopping in her tracks. He stared at her, seeing if she would move and when he realized she would not, he began to walk towards her, trying to determine the issue and comfort her. "Uh..." He said quietly, still figuring out how to word his question. How does he even confront her about the issue? Ugh! if only he wasn't so terrible at talking. But lucky for Bruno, it seemed the rest of his sobrinas and sobrinos had noticed Mirabel's hesitance and turned around to go back to her.
Isabela was not proud of how she had treated her youngest hermana in the past. In fact it was one of her biggest regrets in her life and she knew that she would be doing everything in her power to repent for the neglect to her sister for the rest of her life. After all, one song and dance wouldn't solve all of their problems and erase 10 years worth of ignorance, but she was so grateful that she had had the opportunity to reconnect with Mirabel over the past 3 months it had taken to rebuild Casita. Isabella had ignored and berated Mirabel, only leading Mirabel to fight back, fight fire with fire, she even began to lose her connection with Luisa, after all, she was getting older and the expectations for her to be the perfect grandchild had taken over her every second of the day, leaving little room to connect with her family. But even through all of that, Isabela had never lost her big sister senses, so when she felt that something was off, she immediately looked around, checking up on her little sisters. Luisa was to her left and seemed fine and Mirabel was...wait, where was Mirabel? She frantically looked all around her only to fully turn around and see Mirabel at the bottom of the stairs, eyes wide and shined over in a petrifying fear that she had seen only a few times in her life, with many of those moments happening in this year alone. She instantly moved towards Mirabel, her Tio Bruno visibly leaning over with relief as he saw that help was arriving, with Luisa and her cousins following suite after noticing Mirabel standing still as a statue below them. The adults were still at the top of the stairs, seemingly in an animated conversation if the way Tio Felix waving his arms up and down had any indication, perhaps it was for the best, the adults might overwhelm their poor Mirabel right now.
When they got to Mirabel everyone started surrounding her, confused and worried looks plastered on their faces as they look to Isabela, the oldest, for answers. She slowly approaches Mirabel until they are face to face and she lifts her hand up, placing it gently on Mirabel's shoulder, shaking her to get her attention. "Mirabel" she coos, "Are you alright?"
Mirabel shakes her head "Huh?" she says and looks up at her sister before for taking a minute to look around at the family surrounding her, all letting out an automatic sigh as they realize that Isabela had reached her.
"You weren't moving and we got worried are you okay?" Mirabel's eyes go wide and she breathes out a "Yeah, I'm alright. Just-nervous is all" "What are you nervous about?" Dolores comes up, eyes and ears focused one her troubled prima. "I..." she pauses for a long time, why were words so difficult all of sudden? She was about to stutter out an excuse before she felt a tiny hand in hers, she looks down to see her primito Antonio looking up at her, giving her a smile and squeezing her hand. She feels a hand on her other shoulder and looks over to see her Tio Bruno giving her a tiny encouraging smile and soon after looking to see the comforting looks on her family's faces, she feels grounded enough to continue.
"I'm nervous about my room. Casita seems to have reverted the rooms back to how they were before and now...what if I have to go back to sleeping in the nursery? I don't. I don't think I can do it." She squeezes her eyes shut trying to breathe in and calm herself.
Everyone looked around at each other, and they knew, Mirabel was right, they couldn't let her sleep in that nursery anymore, it was designed to temporarily hold small children, not 15 year old's who managed to help put the family back together after almost total collapse. Determination sparked in their eyes as they looked at each other and nodded. They didn't have a solution yet, but they would stop at nothing to find one.
"Mira, you can sleep with me in my room, if you want! We can easily hang up another hammock for you and I bet my friends would love to have the extra company!" Antonio cheered, excitingly tugging on Mirabel's hand.
"Pfft,I will gladly just give you my room." Bruno offered, patting Mirabel on the shoulder as he did so he would sleep in a nursery anyday over a place that did nothing but strengthen his visions.
"We'll physically build you a new room if we have to! " Luisa exclaimed ruffling her sister's hair causing her to giggle and swat her away.
"We could probably ask Casita to include a room for you too. It may not be a magical glowing door but the room will be distinctly yours" Dolores added.
"Or! Or! If all else fails, we'll turn the nursery into your room! Remove the beds, replace it with a nice big one! Paint the walls what ever color you want, we'll add what ever you want to it to make it feel like your room!" Camilo beamed shaking his primo.They used to be closer when they were younger, hell, they would call each other their twins, but their bond was growing again and it was clear that Camilo would move mountains for Mirabel if that's what she wanted. Mirabel laughed at her cousin's shenanigans and smiled. She really did lover her family.
"See" Isabela held her face in her hands, smiling and acting as if she was holding the most precious thing in the universe and to Isabela, her sisters very much were. "We'll figure something out, we're here for you. All of us." "Thanks guys, that makes me feel a lot better." Mirabel smiled shyly.
"Are you all alright down there?" Julieta calls. Even from all the way at the tops of the stairs, concern was written all over the parent's faces, even Abuela seemed concerned for her grandchildren and son. "Everythings fine!" They chorused. Those at the top of the stairs didn't look completely convinced but figured not to push it tonight.
"Then come up here and so we can watch Abuela open her door!" Felix shouted, beaconing them up. Slowly and together, they made their way up the stairs, Mirabel making the deliberate decision not to look in the opposite direction, where the nursery originally sat. Once they're all up on the stairs Pepa and Julieta pull Bruno towards them in a big triplet hug, while the grandkids did their best to surround and hold onto Mirabel, forming a literal human chain of support around her.
Abuela wastes no more time and approaches her door, Casita bounces with energy at everyone's anticipation and once she touches the doorknob, the door floods with life. And what's left is her name, engraved in the familiar magical light; "Alma" and a depiction of her smiling, looking exactly how she does in the front door of Casita. A smile forms on Abuela's lips at seeing it and she opens her door to reveal a simple room, one similar to how it looked before Casita fell, but somehow...this one felt warm almost. It felt like home.
She closes her door and turns around to her family, smile still glued on her face. "Well, Who's next?" She looks around to her children and grandchildren and patiently waits for an answer. They look around confused until and idea comes to one of them. "Can we pick where to put our rooms!?!" Camilo shouts. Everyone looks to him and then to Abuela who shrugs. "I don't see why not? There's no harm into letting you all make that decision." A few of them start to cheer before someone shouts (maybe it was Isabela, maybe it was Camilo, neither will ever admit it because while they love Mirabel, they are are still prideful so they agree to blame it on Antonio) "I WANT MY ROOM BESIDES MIRABEL!" and soon all of the cousins (besides Dolores who currently has her hands over her ears and who just wants a room far from the loudness of her eccentric family no matter where it is) break out into 'friendly' fire about how they should have a room beside her.
Abuela raises her hands in an attempt to calm them down while the rest of the adults sit there absolutely baffled yet endeared at the sudden war over Mirabel, laughing at the utter confusion and embarrassment on her face from all of the attention. "All right, all right. Since everyone wants one near Mirabel, how about we see her room next?" They all agree yet can see the hesitancy on Mirabel's face so they take it slow as she still refuses to look in the direction of said door. The adults opting to walk in front of her to guide and shield her until she's ready while her cousins and sisters walk beside her to comfort her at her sides.
"Come on Miraboo, it can't be that bad!" her papi, Agustín elbows her, trying to lighten the mood.
"Yea remember what we talked about." Isabela smiles while Luisa nods "Don't worry, we have plans to make this work out!" "We'll be there for you the entire way" Dolores pats her back. As they walk Mirabel starts to feel more comfortable, walking a little taller and picks up her speed.
That...is until Tia Pepa shouts in a way that was definitely meant to be encouraging but felt more like a death sentence, "We're almost there!"
That was what sent Mirabel into a mild panic and she went flying behind the nearest person in front of her, clinging on to them pressing her face into their back as if doing so would make her disappear into the ether. The person in question, who happened to be her Tio Bruno, jumped at the sudden contact and froze. "Everything alright Mirabel?" Bruno's question turning the heads to those who hadn't noticed her sudden movement already. They all stopped, waiting for her to reply, yet all she did was move until she was literally hiding beneath her Tio's ridiculously large ruana. The sight would've caused the adults to let out an audible 'awe' if it wasn't for the fact that she was obviously nervous because unbeknownst to her, this was a common sight a little over a decade ago, as she (and lets be honest the other Madrigal children when they were little) would be found hiding behind her Tio Bruno, whenever scared or nervous. It seems old habits die hard as she let out a little nod but refused to move from under the protective shield of the ruana. After it was clear she would not be saying anything else, they began to walk again, Bruno being cautious of his pace so his sobrina doesn't trip or run into him now that her vision was obscured.
They got to the door quickly and a few gasps could be heard. 'This is it.' Mirabel thought. 'I'm going back into that nursery, I'm not even worthy of my own room.'
"Mija, come out of hiding and see." Her mom coaxed. "Its time, kid" Bruno slowly started moving to get Mirabel out from underneath his ruana. Now no longer in the saftey of the familiar green fabric, Mirabel held her eyes closed and took a deep breath, preparing to face her fate as she feels an old and worn yet gentle hand to her face for a second time that day. "Abre los ojos, Mirabel. Let's see your new room." Abuela smiles, the feeling of it directed towards her still feels so new so Mirabel soaks the attention in.
When she's ready, she looks towards the door and she lets out a gasp. The door in front of her wasn't a golden door flowing with its brilliant magic, but it was a dark mahogany door that had her name along with a depiction of herself, similar to the one on Casita's front door carved into it. Her doorknob even had a 'M' on it. This was truly her room.
"Open it! Open it!" Antonio shouted, bouncing on the balls of his feet. She smiled widely and opened it to see a large room, in it her walls were painted to resemble the colors of a sunrise, butterflies of all colors and patterns, but most prominently of shimmering gold fill the walls bringing the room to life. Casita dances to around the room as if it's introducing Mirabel and the family to everything the room has to offer. New sewing machines, fabrics, threads and much more are organized into its own section in the room, desk and closets are placed in the room and are painted in various blues and designs that seem to mimic her skirt and even a few benches, bean bags, and sofas litter the room, as if it could tell Mirabel would always accept company into her room.
At that moment, Mirabel's smile could cure illnesses better than Julieta's own cooking, stop all war, and snuff the anger from the hearts of the most wretched and despicable people.
"Look! I have a bed! A BIG bed!" Mirabel cheered, running and diving on it. Soon the others couldn't stop themselves, so while laughing the kids all ran and dove on the big bed with Mirabel. It seemed to have just enough room for all of the Madrigal children to comfortably fit on it. They laughed and joked and somewhere in the middle of it all, Camilo and Luisa had teamed up to start a pillow fight against Isabela and Dolores joined in to help her older primo because "Well, I didn't start this, but I'm definitely gonna finish it!" The adults did nothing but laugh and watch them as Mirabel and Antonio joined in on the fight, and soon there would be flowers flying everywhere and two Doloreses and a few birds divebombing the group at a vigorous command and for the first time in so long, they were genuinely having fun in a place they could call 'Home'. Now, it was really late, and they should've all been asleep hours ago but just for today, the adults, looked at each other and decided that they'd let them stay up for as long as they'd like and just let the kids be kids.
After a while the excitement had worn down and the Madrigal children were worn out, all deciding that their doors could wait until the morning, falling asleep in a large cuddle pile in Mirabel's bed.
The adults looked at the sight of tangled limbs on the bed and smiled. "Did you guys see the look on Mirabel's face at seeing her room? I haven't seen her smile like that in such a long time." Julieta whispered, careful to not wake the pile of children up. Everyone nodded. "She was so happy just to have a nice bed to sleep on..." Pepa commented. "Well, you would be too if you had to spend your entire life on a worn twin sized mattress." Agustín shot back, not meaning to come off as upset as he had. Abuela sighed, avoiding eye contact with her children and their husbands. "Its my fault, I shouldn't have let the idea of earning our gifts blind me, I could've treated her better and arranged a room for her, regardless if she had a gift or not." "But you didn't and the past is the past, all we can do now is to try everyday to make it up to her. Make it up to the children." Bruno replied before quickly looking away and towards the pile of sleeping kids. "Bruno's right. The only way for us to move is forward, and this room is a start." Determination filling Felix as he try to lift the spirits of his mother-in-law, wife, hermana and hermanos.
"Casita did do a wonderful job on the room." Julieta piped up as Casita fluttered its tiles and danced around the room, seemingly soaking in the compliment. "Casita seems more active in here too." Pepa noted. "Lo siento Abuela pero, Casita always did seem to have an affinity for Mirabel, as if she was its favorite." Felix said raising his arms in the air, prepared for Abuela to reject his words. "Está bien, Felix. I've noticed it too." She smiles as she looks to Mirabel tucked comfortably with her sisters and cousins, then to Casita who seems to be running circles around the girls' bed as it it was an excited god waiting patiently for her to wake up and notice it.
"Well it make sense doesn't it?" This grabs the attention of his family, faces contorted in confusion. "Can you explain what you mean by that, Brunito?" Abuela reaches toward him to grab his hands, holding them there for him to speak. "Mirabel doesn't have a gift, she brought the magic back, Casita clearly favors her over everyone in the family, she was chosen by Casita to to be next in line to watch watch over the magic." He shrugs, before letting go of his mothers hands.
"I-" She pauses. "I've never thought of it like that. You might be right Brunito!" Abuela smiles. Her little nieta was going to take her place one day. She was destined to and her ignorance she never even considered it up until now.
"I always knew that my Mirabel would grow up to do something wonderful" Julieta shakes Agustín causing him to laugh at her antics, "It does suit her well, vida" "She'll do a wonderful job" Pepa smiled at the two who nodded proudly. "Indeed she will. But for now, it is late and we all must get some sleep. Come now. Let the children rest."
Abuela walks out of the room, letting her children follow after quietly closing the door. "Come on! We can have our own sleepover!" Pepa grabbed her siblings as she started pulling them towards her room. "YEA SLEEPOVER!" Agustín and Felix high fived before racing after the triplets.
"It'll be just like old times!" Julieta beamed. And as they all walk into Pepa's room, ready to make up for 10 years of lost time, a soft smile finds its way onto Bruno's face. "Yea. Just like old times."