Encanto: Family Madrigal One-shots

Isabela's facade

I think this one is definitely better than my last. So I hope you guys enjoy. Family Day is tomorrow and I have to catch up on homework so fanfiction is going to take a back seat again for a bit. 

(Maribel = 9        Camilio =9         Luisa = 13yrs      Dolores = 15yrs      Isabela = 15yrs)

Isabela was doing flowers for a wedding and Abuela had asked them to be absolutely perfect. The couple loved nature and they wanted a completely flower filled wedding. Obviously Isabela was the best person to make their dreams come true. Isabela filled the booked area with a beautiful mix of roses and daisies. Isebela knew that the couple liked all flowers so she decided to stray from her usual role of only producing roses. It had taken her hours to weave the different types of flowers together in a way that perfectly complemented everything. Isabela stepped back and grinned at her work because she had actually enjoyed using her gift for once in her life. Her joy was quickly cut short as Abuela came up behind Isabela.

"Isabela, what is this?" Abuela asked aghast. "They asked for a flower arrangement and you've grown weeds for their wedding, why?"

"Weeds? I've only grown flowers."

"Isa, Daisies are a type of weed. The Hernandos won't be happy with this."

"But I think they will be, see they like all-" Isabela tries to defend herself but is abruptly cut off.

"You are a Madrigal, I expect more. They'll have to move their wedding now." Abuela sighed, giving Isabela a disappointed stare. "Never grow weeds, Isa. It is not a useful ability of your gift." Isabela had tears welling in her eyes now. She had worked so hard. It was more difficult to grow unique flowers with her regular display. She hung her head and nodded.

"They won't have to move their wedding," Isabela adds, her tone void of all pride she held moments ago.

"So you can fix this?" Abuela asks.

"Yes, of course." Isabella immediately started to work on growing roses overtop of the daisies and Abuela nodded her approval. Isabela couldn't help but dwindle on the word 'fix' in Abuela's question. She thought she created something beautiful but it was something wrong, something that needed to be fixed.

 Isa worked tirelessly until it was an hour to the wedding. The bride walked in with a smile. Isabela thought she spotted something almost sad in the woman's eyes and she looked around making sure she covered every Daisy- every weed. "Is everything perfect?" The bride smiled at Isabela.

"Thank you so much for doing all these roses."

"So you like it?"

"Yes, it's beautiful. Now go relax, you've been working all day long and teenagers deserve to have some fun too." The woman patted Isabela's shoulder and the young girl ran home with a slight forced grin. She still didn't feel like she did it right. In truth the woman loved the flowers, but she had imagined at least two different types if not more. Isa was right at the start.

Isabela ran home and up into her room before anyone could spot her. She looked around and all the roses she'd grown, but the things that were drawing her attention was the other types of flowers that she had been teaching herself. Nothing extremely unique yet they all felt wrong beside her perfect roses now. In tears and in between sobs, Isabela tore the incorrect flowers from the walls and floor and replaced them with the proper arrays of roses. Then she collapsed on her bed, empty and hating her gift all over again. Unfortunately, this was the moment Maribel decided to walk into Isabela's room.

"Isa, everyone's going to the wedding if you want to tag along?" Maribel said, sticking her head through the door.

"Go away!" her sister shouted and Maribel was surprised to see her beautiful gifted (in more than one sense) sister in such an emotional state. "Get out Maribel!" Maribel closed the door and ran to lean over the railing.

"She's tired and trying to rest after all the work she did today," Maribel called down to her family. Basically everyone was invited. Maribel was the only one not going, except now Isabela was staying behind as well. The family understood and headed out so Maribel turned back to the closed door to her sister's room.

Cautiously Maribel re-opened her sister's door and quietly closed it behind her. Isabela was crying into her pillow and hardly noticed. Maribel frowned. She couldn't understand what was wrong. Could it have something to do with Abuela's sour expression earlier? Surely Isa couldn't have done anything wrong, she's the golden grandchild after all.

"Isa? What's wrong?" Maribel tested the waters.

"I thought I told you to get out Maribel!"

"I told mama and Abuela you were tired and wanted to rest. They won't bother you tonight... Why are you crying?"

"Maribel, I don't want to talk to you. Don't you understand that!" Isabela snapped. Maribel shrunk a little in the wake of her sister's distraught rage. Her and Isa weren't particularly close. They were still sisters though. Maribel glanced around her eldest sister's room, she'd been in here before with Lusia. Sometimes they would have sister picnics and Isabela and Lusia would take turns hosting. Maribel often paid attention to the little details, and she was starting to notice the subtle differences in Isabela's room. Her more unique flowers were gone.

"Where are all the daisies and dandelions and... your other flowers?" Maribel thought aloud.

"You mean the weeds. They don't matter Maribel. I don't want to hear it, okay!"

"They weren't weeds, they were beautiful, you have such amazing powers and-"

"I don't want to hear another word out of you sis! Just leave! You have no idea how lucky you are!" Isabela suddenly grew vines and Maribel was dragged out of the room. Sitting in the hallway Maribel crossed her arms and huffed in her rage. Lucky? Isa was the lucky one, not Maribel. She would give anything for a gift and Isa was just being dramatic.

Maribel only knew a little about cooking, so she struggled slightly while making dinner. Maribel was grumpy about Isabela's attitude, but that didn't mean she was just going to ignore her sister. Maribel cooked and then made a plate which she took up Isabela. She didn't want to be unfairly screamed at again so she walked in and set the plate on the floor.

"Sorry you're upset Isa... and sorry that you're so unlucky with all the love you get," Maribel said bitterly. "But really, I hope you get in a better mood than you're in now." Isabela didn't even turn to look at Maribel as she left the room. She took her own food to the nursery and left Isabela alone for the rest of the night.

Isabela hesitated to fetch the plate after Maribel left. She was still in an awful mood. Everything felt dull and wrong. She felt like a complete disappointment after her conversation with Abuela. She had yelled at Maribel, but her sweet younger sister wasn't the problem. She was jealous of Maribel's supposed misfortune because the only thing anyone expected of her was nothing. No pressure, no huge expectations, she was free in a way Isa wanted. After some time, Isabela got up and took the plate. Her nine-year-old sister's cooking left something to be desired, but it was kind of her to deliver dinner even after being yelled at all night. Isabela smiled to herself and sighed. Things would be fine... she knew what was right now, what Abuela wanted. Roses. Nothing else. That was the path to being the perfect Madrigal. 

Thanks for reading. Requests/suggestions/prompts are still open. Hope you are all having a great day or night or morning. Just hope you're doing well in general. Till the next chapter :)