Mirabel smiled a little sadly now as she listened to her Abuela accuse her of being the reason for everything going wrong. It had been ten years since her failed ceremony and since they learned that she seemed to have a calming effect on everyone not just her Tia. Although it was most obvious with Tia Pepa due to her emotions constantly being broadcasted by her powers, they had learned that everyone felt better and more relaxed if Mirabel was near them or touching their skin with her own. No one knew of the scars that littered her body. Scars that she knew came from taking in everyone's pain and negative emotions.
She was covered completely by a long sleeve shirt and a pair of tights under her skirt. It had caused a minor fuss at first but Mirabel had still been able to calm people down with a mere touch of her hand or a kiss to their cheek and so no one raised too big a stink about it. Not when it didn't really bother anyone and they all believed it to be a phase. The only ones who were actually concerned about it were Tia Pepa (who Mirabel spent more time with than anyone else and thus had been very worried about the sudden change), Dolores who could hear everything and knew that Mirabel was trying to cover something up, and little Antonio who had roomed with her for the last five years and knew why she was hiding her entire body.
Mirabel said nothing for a long moment, just staring at her Abuela with those soft sad understanding eyes that broke everyone else in the village into crying into her arms as they sobbed about why they were so upset as she reached forward and cupped her grandmothers face between her hands. She felt all of the negative emotions drain out of her grandmother and into herself slowly but surely. She felt the new scars forming on her body. She was running out of free skin. Pretty soon the scars would reach her hands or her neck and face. And then she would no longer be able to hide it. But she didn't want that. She didn't want them to feel guilty or upset over her scars. Her scars that her mothers cooking never healed.
"I'm sorry that you care more about the miracle than you do your own family. I'm sorry that to you none of us will ever be good enough because you can't see past your own grief. You can't see past your past and the miracles. You only focus on what they can do, not who they were originally for. You mistakenly lay blame on those who it is easiest to lash out against because you don't want to let go of your grief and trauma. You don't want to admit that other people are not the source of your problems. You don't want to look inside and see that no one else is to blame for the miracle and Casita beginning to die." Mirabel's eyes were shining slightly from within again as she peered into her grandmothers eyes, feeling as her body ran out of free skin underneath her clothes and thus her scars began to etch themselves into her collarbone and slowly creep up towards her neck.
Abuela was slowly starting to sag as all of the pain and hurt and other negative emotions were slowly draining from her old body. She couldn't look away though. Not from those understanding soft sad glowing brown eyes and that understanding sad smile on her nieta's lips.
"You don't want to admit that the problem was not with anyone else. The reason the miracle was dying was because of you." Mirabel's words were soft and sad but they all felt the way that the hit the older woman as she jerked back sharply, just as the scars started to become visible on Mirabel's neck.
"HOW DA-" CRACK!! Abuela's sudden return of rage was interrupted by the sound of something cracking as a large crack split across Casita right in between Mirabel and Abuela who stumbled back a bit.
"The candle!" Mirabel slowly turned her gaze up towards the candle on its' resting place as the cracks spread throughout Casita. She should save the candle, for no other reason than because of what it represented to Abuela and the rest of Encanto.
"Casita get me up there." Mirabel's voice was unnaturally calm as she began running towards the candle, Casita shifting a railing down for Mirabel to climb like a ladder.
