"...Mira?"
Her nose scrunched; she knew that voice. It was a familiar voice; one she knew almost as well as her own. But... she had never heard it like this before. Why did the voice sound so scared? A small whine escaped the back of her throat, unbidden.
"Mirabel? Are you awake?"
Her brow twitched involuntarily, and when her eyes at last cracked open, it was to the blurry outline of her self-proclaimed mellizo's face.
"Mira!" Camilo pounced on his cousin, skinny arms wrapping around her tight enough to steal all the air from her lungs.
"Ah— Cami—!" she gasped, arms flailing.
Camilo paid her no mind, burying his face in the side of her neck and wailing, "Mira, you're okay!"
Mirabel felt her pillow start to get damp; she blinked in confusion, frowning slightly but still wrapped her arms around her primo comfortingly. "What do you...?" The question trailed off into nothing as bits and pieces of memories flooded her mind — the unpleasant vertigo that suddenly overtook her with no warning, the ache in her abdomen and the rawness of her throat as she'd coughed and coughed and coughed, unable to stop... the terror that seized her when she saw the blood coating her palm... that same terror mixed with horror reflected in her tía, tío and hermana's eyes...
Ay, Dios.
"Mira? Hermanita?"
Mirabel squinted at the three incoming figures, using the colours to identify each girl — Dolores, Isabela, and then Luisa. Her vision quickly cleared when the middle one, Isabela, carefully placed her glasses on her face for her. Mirabel shot her a grateful smile, and received a sad one in return.
"How are you feeling, hermanita?" Luisa sat by her feet and gently squeezed her ankle in a tender show of affection and concern.
"Alright," Mirabel hummed, slowly sitting herself up. Camilo was sitting beside her now, sniffling and rubbing at his eyes. "A little light-headed. I'm sorry for worrying you," she smiled again, and this time it was Dolores who gathered her in her arms.
"You have nothing to apologize for, querida," Dolores whispered in her ear, pressing a kiss to the side of her head. "We only worry about you because we love you."
Mirabel's cheeks reddened slightly; she knew her family loved her, of course she knew, they were so obvious about it. But somehow feeling it through their actions and attitudes was different to hearing it being said aloud so bluntly.
"Dolores, move — I want a Miraboo Cuddle too," Isabela gently pushed Dolores to the side, enough for her to squeeze in and get a hug of her own.
Dolores huffed in mock-annoyance, but dutifully shuffled to the side. "Do you remember what happened, Mira?" the thirteen-year-old asked gently, keeping a hand on her prima's shoulder.
"Umm—" Mirabel couldn't help taking a breath of her hermana's floral-scented body wash, a scent she associated with comfort for some unknown reason, "—I remember getting light-headed. And coughing. A lot. I don't think I could've stopped even if I tried. And uh... there was blood, right? A lot of blood. And then... I think I passed out?" She looked up at Isabela's grim face, but was distracted from whatever her hermana would've said when a loud sniff reached her ears.
"Aww, Cami," Mirabel reached out to her mellizo, pulling him into another hug. "Don't cry, you know I hate it when you cry... mostly because when you cry, I cry, and then mamá and Tía Pepa get all worried and Tía Pepa will start thundering and that's not good for anyone, right? So don't cry." Her hands were much smaller than Camilo's, but she still did her best to wipe away the shapeshifter's tears with her thumbs. "Smile~" She gave a smile herself, tugging Camilo's lips up in some miserable, wet copy of a smile. "For me? Please?"
