Chapter Text
"Holy shit! What the…?!" Eddie looked frantically around, then realized he was no longer at the same bar, but at a different older one.
"Damn it! I wanted that we stayed in the last universe! We didn't even meet that Spider-Man guy!"
"I know, I know. Where are we anyway?"
"The hell should I know? I'm just as confused as you are."
Eddie only then realized that the bartender was staring at him with wide eyes. He wore those old-fashioned clothes like a brown poncho and he looked like he came from somewhere from South America.
"Um… Hola." He said in a Colombian accent. He seemed a little unsure of what to do next, he was the only one in the bar at the moment. All other workers are now on a break.
"¿Puedo traerte algo?" He asked.
"Huh?" Eddie replied.
"Te pregunté si podía hacerte algo de beber." He pointed to the liquor brands.
"I'm not 100% sure, but I think he's asking what drink we want."
"Do you speak English?" Eddie asked.
"¿perdón?"
"I take that as a no." He sighed. "Can you maybe translate it? It would be easier to talk to him if I know what he's saying."
"Eddie. I've had a few hosts over the years, and none of them, including you, spoke Spanish except for a few basic words. I don't understand shit what he's saying."
"Is there nothing you can do about it?"
"Well, I can do something. Give me sec." Venom suddenly jumped from Eddie to the bartender, covering his entirety. After a few moments he suddenly started laughing.
"What's so funny?" Eddie asked a little irritated.
"It's just this guy. He's such a pussy, he once jumped on a table and screamed like a little girl because he saw a spider." Venom kept laughing.
"Yeah, hilarious. Can you return now?"
"Yeah, yeah, okay." And with that, he jumped back to Eddie. As he did so, the bartender fell unconscious to the floor.
"And? Can I understand Spanish now?"
"Deberías poder hacerlo ahora."
"Hey, I understand you." Eddie chuckled. "So what did you get from him?"
"It is 1952 and we are in a place in Colombia called Encanto. There is a family called the Madrigals who have this magic candle that gives them powers."
"Seriously? A magic candle? First we were in a universe where a purple alien snapped half the world away, and now we are in a universe where a magic candle gives you powers?"
"I know, right? It sounds so stupid, but it's true."
"Anything else?" Eddie asked as he took a random drink and drank from the bottle.
"Well, there's a ceremony where one of the family's kid will get his gift."
"Gift?" Eddie asked confused.
"It's what they call their powers."
"Okay, when is it?"
"From now, in about two weeks in a really big house. Want to check it out?"
"Probably, it's not like I have anything better to do." Eddie said as he finished the bottle. "But I have to change, I stand out way too much."
"There's an unconscious man on the floor." Moments later, Eddie walked out of the bar in the bartender's clothes.
"So we have to keep ourselves busy for the next two weeks until the ceremony finally starts." He concluded as he walked through the town.
"Well, we're hungry."
"Of course we are."
Back at the bar, the bartender woke up and immediately noticed he was in his underwear. "Oh no, you've gotta be kidding me." And as if the situation couldn't get any worse, the two other bartenders came back from their break.
The two men looked stunned at their colleague who for some reason was in his underwear. "God damn it Daniel." Said one of them.
"Wait! I can explain!"
Two weeks later, the ceremony was about to begin. People sang and cheered, fireworks went off and colored the sky. Some people held candles on their way to Casa Madrigal. Although in the last ceremony it ended with a Madrigal not receiving a gift, the townspeople are putting their hopes on that this night will go successfully.
When the crowd arrived at the house, Luisa willingly took the donkeys from the people and put them in the “parking lot”. As she did so, Camilo changes size so he can shake everyone's hand face-to-face who enters.
Casita took people's hats as they went through the archway. Isabela showers guests with flower petals. Mariano and Julieta admiring her from afar.
During the game, Antonio's door attracts the attention of two children. They ran upstairs. They would have made it if the stairs hadn't suddenly turned into a slide, causing them to slide back down.
Mirabel walked around, admired how beautiful everything looks. She can still remember 10 years ago, how happy and exciting everyone was. The amount of attention she received.
But she can also remember the feeling she got when she didn't get a gift. And how everyone suddenly treated her differently, especially Abuela. But she quickly tried not to think about that moment. Today wasn't about her, it was about Antonio.
Speaking of Antonio. She realized she hadn't seen him all day. She overheard how her aunt and uncle Pepa and Felix couldn't find him. It didn't take her long to realize where he might be hiding.
She walked past everyone to her room. "Antonio?" She called out to him. But no one answered.
Unwilling to wallow, Mirabel opens a drawer and pulls out a wrapped package, stenciled with designs in the same style as her dress. Mirabel sat on her bed in silence. She then slowly lets the package dangle under the bed and looked at nothing in particular.
"Everyone is looking for you." But no one answered. "This gift will self destruct if you don't take it in three, two, one-" In an instant the package disappeared under the bed.
Even Mirabel was amazed at how quickly he took it. She chuckled as she crawled under the bed joining Antonio. She could see that he looked a little anxious.
"Nervous?" She asked.
"Yeah, a little." He nodded.
"You don't have to worry about that. You get your gift and open that door… and it's going to be the coolest thing ever. I just know it."
Antonio thought about it "What if it doesn't work?"
It hurts her to see him like this. Was he that pressured about it? Expected everyone that much that he'll receive a gift? "Well… um… it's possible that scenario could happen, and if it does, you'd stay here with me in the nursery. Forever. And I'd have you all to myself." She said as she stroked his head.
He chuckled "I wish you had a door like everyone else."
Mirabel sighed, if she got a dollar for every time she wished she had one, she'd be the richest person in all of Encanto.
"You know what? You don't have to worry about me. Because I have a great family, a great home, and most importantly, a great you." She said as she snuggled him.
They both laughed. "But alas, I'm going to miss having a roommate like you." She pushes the package in front of him and gestures for him to open it.
As he did so, he gasped when the package contained a jaguar plush in the style of Mirabel's dress. "I know you're an animal guy. And I made this, so when you go to your new cool room, you always have something to snuggle with."
He hugged the jaguar plush. "Thanks Mira, I love it." He smiled.
"You'd better, you have no idea how long it took me to make this. The only thing that kept me going was imagining the face you would make after I gave you this."
"It was definitely worth it." He said admiring the details the plush had.
The gravity of the moment is gently cut as Casita moves the floorboards with an alarm clock that draws their attention to the time. "Okay, hombrecito, are you ready?" She asked semi seriously.
He nodded. They were about to leave, but Mirabel gave him a quick hug. Casita playfully bumping them around. "Okay, okay, we're going." Mirabel said as they both laughed.
Mirabel leads Antonio to the foyer, which was a sort of the backstage from which his ceremony will begin. And so, the ceremony went smoothly. Antonio was nervous at first, but after he got his gift of being able to talk to any animal, and a great forest room. His nervousness quickly disappeared.
While everyone was celebrating Antonio's new gift and room, Mirabel went into the lonely silence that is now an empty courtyard.
Why didn't she get a gift when it was her turn to get one? Even without a gift, she can be useful. All she ever wanted was to show her family that she can be useful even without a gift. Her father and uncle have no gift either, and they are useful to the family. But why can't she?
As Mirabel was too deep in her thoughts, she didn't notice the man in front of her. She bumped into him, causing him to drop all the bread like pandebono and plaited bread he was carrying.
"Oh my god, I'm so sorry!" She apologized as she started to pick up all the bread he dropped.
The man quickly swallowed the bread in his mouth before speaking. "Don't worry, accident do happen. I probably carried way too much, but someone wanted me to take more." The man said as he started to pick up the loaves too.
"I told you we shouldn't have taken that many."
Mirabel looked at him confused "Uh, are you still talking to me?"
"What? No, I was… talking to myself." The man said a little unsure how to answer her.
"Alriiight." Mirabel said not sure if she should keep asking him about it. "Well, have a nice night." She waved as she passed him.
"Oh, wait, wait." He called out to her. "You're Mirabel Madrigal, aren't you?"
"Sure, the one and only." She replied.
"Okay, and your family has a magic candle, right?"
"Yeah, are you from outside Encanto or something?" She asked confused, she thought everyone already knew this.
"Uh… yeah, you can say that. I've only been here two weeks." He started eating a pandebono.
"Wow, I've never met anyone from outside Encanto before. Where are you from?" She asked excitedly.
"I'm from… Bogota. Yes, I'm from Bogota."
"Oh, that sounds far away." Then she realized that the man was carrying much more bread than she expected. She overheard a conversation between her mother and Abuela that a lot of the food had lately secretly been stolen. And it wasn't just a little, it was a lot to the point that it was obvious that bread and other food was being stolen. When she noticed this, she thought it wouldn't be a good idea to talk to this man for too long.
"So, were you going back to the party?" She asked.
"I've actually been there already. That boy's room looks amazing, I've never seen anything like that." But suddenly something happened.
Mirabel saw how the man suddenly started to glow "What the?!" Mirabel said in surprise.
"Ah, sonovabi-" Before he could finish that sentence, he completely disappeared.
Mirabel looked frantically around her, but she didn't see him anywhere. "What just happened?" She looked at where the man was a second ago. But all she saw was a broken roof tile next to where he was standing. She probably didn't hear it drop because she was distracted by the man who suddenly disappeared in front of her.
Curiously, Mirabel picks up the broken roof tile from the courtyard. As she inspects it, she cut her hand on the sharp broken edge. "Ouch." She suddenly dropped the tile. She saw how the floor tiles of the courtyard suddenly began to crack. The crack splinters. Growing! Around Mirabel and the entire courtyard. They are spreading, rippling everywhere! Even going up the stairs!
Mirabel ran after the growing cracks that ripple past Pedro's portrait to the second floor. Mirabel loses her way for a moment, but hears a creaking in the hallway. She looks just in time to see the cracks pass Isabela's door, almost extinguishing its magic. Mirabel moves faster, following the interfering cracks past Luisa's door and proceeding to Abuela's door and… the candle!
As the cracks swirl and multiply, the candle grows weaker! Mirabel watches in horror, it was as if the whole house was going dark and the cracks around Mirabel were getting bigger.
But during all this, Mirabel hadn't realized that something small was stuck to her shoe. It changed her right shoe from pink to black.
Back at Antonio's rainforest room where everyone was admiring it. Even Abuela showed a bit of her fun side by dancing with Felix.
But just then, Mirabel burst in "The house is in danger!" She said, panting heavily.
Everyone stops and looked at her, even the band stopped playing. Abuela stares anxiously at Mirabel. "The tiles were falling and there were cracks all over and…" She said, still a breathing heavily. "The candle, it almost went out."
The people in the party began to mumble uncomfortably. Last ceremony didn't go well with Mirabel who didn't get a gift, the last thing they want is for this ceremony to be ruined too.
Abuela sighed "Show me."
A few moments later they were all back in the courtyard and saw no crack or broken tile on the floor. In fact, the candle still shone brightly as normal. "What? No, that's… the cracks were there, they were… everywhere. And the, the candle was…" She stammered.
"Mirabel please, that's enough." Abuela silence her. "There's nothing wrong with Miracle. The magic is strong, and so are the drinks!" She said jokingly.
"Agustín, mi esposo, please do something to make this less uncomfortable for her." Whispered Julieta to her husband.
He nodded and then gestured to Luisa, who brings him a piano, which he plays to get rid of the awkwardness.
"But I was telling the truth." Mirabel said softly to herself as everyone returned to the room.
Julieta approached her daughter "Mira, are you okay?" She asked concerned.
Later in the kitchen "I know what I saw mom. Look at my hand. If it was only in my head, how did I cut it? I would never ruin Antonio's night. You believe me, right?"
"I believe that you've had a very long night." She said patting her head.
"Is that your way of saying you don't believe me?" She sighed in annoyance.
"No mi hija. Please, I know you wouldn't ruin Antonio's night. You're not the type that would do something like that."
"Yeah I know, right? What I actually was doing was taking care of the family. Sure, I might not be super strong like Luisa, or perfect like 'Señorita Perfecta' Isabela, who never had a bad hair day." She said even more annoyed than she already was. She then flinched from the pain when she accidentally put her hand with the cut on the table.
"Here, let me heal that wound." She said while giving her an arepa.
Mirabel ate it and her hand healed immediately. "Or even being able to heal any wound with food, like you. But I can still do stuff."
"You have to stop comparing yourself to everyone else, your special in your own way. You just haven't realized it yet." Mirabel gave her a forced smile and hid the sadness she was feeling.
Back in Mirabel's room, it took her a while to fall asleep because of what happened in the courtyard. The man disappearing, the house cracking, the roof tiles falling. And especially the candle that was about to go out.
But what she didn't notice was that something came from her shoe. It was a black liquid creature. It started to creep towards her bed, Casita noticed this and started to move the floor trying to push it away. But no matter how much Casita tried to keep it away from Mirabel, the black liquid was hellbent on reaching her. The black liquid then managed to quickly jump onto the bed before Casita could put an object infront of it to stop it.
Mirabel awoke suddenly when she felt something crawling on her leg. She immediately opened the covers, but when she did, she saw nothing. “Ugh, it must have been nothing." She dismissed it. "I can't fall asleep after what happened today." She said frustrated.
She climbed out of her bed and slowly opened her door. She looked at the candle from her room. Suddenly a few cracks appeared around the window. Within moments she was at the window and felt the cracks. And yes, they were indeed real, she was definitely not imagining the cracks.
I knew it! I knew I wasn't imagining it! She thought to herself. But she realized that they were smaller compared to the ones she saw in the courtyard.
She then heard a noise coming from the window and quickly hid. She saw Abuela, but she was sad about something, this is the first time Mirabel has seen her like this.
"Ah, Pedro, I need you. Cracks in our casita. If our family knew how vulnerable we really are. If our miracle dies. We can't lose our home again." Abuela's eyes started to water a little.
"Why is this happening?" She paused.
"Open my eyes. If the answer is here, help me find it. Help me protect our family. Help me save… our miracle." Abuela turns heading back inside her room.
Mirabel stared at the candle, it was now pretty clear what she had to do. "I will save the miracle." She smiled.
"Hungry." Said a monstrous voice.
This caught her by surprise so much that she jumped up a little. This caused her to lose her balance and slipped off the roof. She tried to grab onto something, but she kept sliding down. She didn't realize that all of her fingers dug so deep into the tiles that you could see exactly where her fingers were as she slid down.
Casita luckily managed to catch her before she fell, and placed her safely back in the hallway under the roof. Abuela went back to the window, she looked around, but saw no one. She could have sworn she heard something. But she decided to dismiss it.
Mirabel ran back and stormed into her room. She then sighed with relief. "Thank you Casita. Sorry you had to save me there, but I heard someone say something to me. Did you hear it too?"
Casita moved in a way that gives a no for an answer. "I think it said “hungry”." She says while placing her hand on her belly. "Speaking of hungry, my stomach does feel empty. I think I should eat before going back to sleep."
She stepped back out of her room and went over to the kitchen. She started eating all the fruits and vegetables the kitchen had. "So how am I supposed to save the miracle?" She asked while still eating.
Casita moved in a way that said it had no idea. "I need someone to help me. Someone to talk to. Someone…" She then had an idea. "That can hear everything." She said looking at Dolores' door.
She then realized that in just that short amount of time she had eaten everything, all the fruits and vegetables. "What? How did I eat so much without realizing it?"
She began frantically searching all the drawers and cupboards for something to eat. She then found a box of 10 egg, she remembered reading somewhere that eating raw eggs is okay, as long as it doesn't contain too many Salmonella bacteria.
She took the box and then a glass cup. She began to break the eggs one by one and let them fall into the cup. She stirred and mixed everything together. When it was done, she immediately drank it all up.
She then exhaled when she was done. For a few seconds nothing happened. But then she held onto her belly when her stomach started to feel weird.
"Oh god. Bad idea, bad idea!" She felt all the food she ate flowing back up her throat.
Casita quickly pushed a trash can toward her. It was just in time, because when she got it, she immediately vomited everything she ate.
"Ugh… wha… what was I thinking?" She coughed. "Of course I'd throw up if I ate that many eggs raw." She said still feeling a little sick.
Then she heard a door open from one of the rooms, it was Camilo. He looked very sleepy, which makes sense when you consider it was nighttime. Mirabel quickly hid behind the table in such a way that he couldn't see her.
Casita started moving the floor tiles, which caught his attention. "Oh, it's you Casita. Can you keep it down? There are people here who want to sleep." He said returning to his room.
Mirabel sighed in relief, but then she felt like she was going to vomit again. She took the trash can and started to vomit even more. She tried her best to sound as quietly as possible. But this is difficult as she had eaten a lot. After she was finally done, which felt like forever to her, she went back to her room.
"Okay, note to myself. Do NOT under any circumstances eat eggs raw, no matter how hungry I am." Her head was still spinning a little from all that vomiting.
"I'm must be stressed. That's why I made such a stupid choice as eating raw eggs." She laid back on her bed. She still felt a little sick, but this isn't the first time she had threw up.
"I'm just going to pretend that part of the night didn't happen. Tomorrow everything will be fine."
If only she knew how wrong she would be.