||A Miracle|| (Encanto AU)

Finally The Truth

At breakfast the next morning, Mirabel's didn't even know what she was eating, it could have been worms and she wouldn't have known, as she was still deep in thought thinking over everything, her thoughts constantly going back to the secret passageway she had found last night. She went to get more food on her fork only to hear a to scrape of porcelain and metal, she looked down onto it for the first time and saw it was completely empty other than a few crumbs. Seeing an opportunity to get away from the table she seized it and went inside to put the dish away then go straight upstairs. Before she could get up though, a voice she didn't know was even there said "Where are you going?" Mirabel looked up the table to look at a questioning Abuela, she could feel the all the eyes on her "I'm finished, I was going to put my plate away." She answered "Well you'll have to do that afterwards, right now we are having a meeting, sit down." She plopped back down into the chair feeling kind of embarrassed and waited for her to finish up, it was a dull boring meeting about helping the community and not taking a our gifts for granted, nothing Mirabel hadn't heard before. When she finally had finished Mirabel thought nothing else could get in her way, but when she had finished washing her dish, she noticed everyone seemed to be in viewing distance of the painting, meaning she couldn't explore it till they all left. Mirabel waited patiently till they all were in different areas of the house or village, now was her chance. She ran up the stairs and went straight to the painting, taking a deep breath before opening it up to reveal the passageway, her heart was going a mile a minute as she looked down the hall. One more quick check to see if anyone was watching then next thing shes walking down the passage, the wooden planks creaking with every step. At one point there was a place Mirabel wasn't sure what to do at first, but she found a way eventually. She also found a hole in the ground with broken planks on the sides, she gingerly tested if they would hold he weight then carefully walked on them to the other side. Her steps were progressively getting more echoey as she got deeper in. Eventually, she found a very light looking door, a soft light coming from the cracks and squeaking coming from the other side. Mirabel's heart was about to burst out of her chest and her breathing was so heavy she thought if anyone was on the other side they could clearly hear her. Mirabel gently and slowly pushed the door open to reveal a very messy hideout with an ungodly amount of rats, but the thing that made her heart stop was someone sitting in an old chair with their head down, at first she didn't recognize them because their face was blocked, but she came to her senses. They didn't seem to realize anyone was there till Mirabel spoke up "..Tio Bruno..?" This clearly startled him so much so he fell out of his chair, getting up he looked at the person who had just came in, he still seemed scared and confused, seeming to wonder if Mirabel really was there of was just a hallucination. Mirabel was taking in his appearance, she didn't remember him much, but he looked completely different than how everyone seemed it describe him. Bruno seemed to try and say something but couldn't get the words out, finally he spoke as he walked up to Mirabel, "How did you find me? And did you get hurt while you where going through the passage?" He asked this as he frantically looked up and down Mirabel's arms and face seemingly trying to look for any sign of injury. "I'm fine." Mirabel said as she took his hands off her, "Sorry, I just had to make sure." He apologized as he retracted his hands. "Why do you care so much anyway?" Mirabel asked "I just- never mind, never mind, forget it." He was now looking down at the floor. Mirabel was still confused, "I don't understand, why did you leave but didn't actually go?" Bruno looked up at her at this, "Well, the mountains around the Encanto are pretty tall," he gave a slight weak chuckle "And.." his voice trailed off, looking at Mirabel sadly. "Well, I can't really tell you." He stepped a little bit back to make sure he wasn't too close to her so she wasn't uncomfortable but still close enough to look wistfully at her. "Well anyway I think you should good because, I don't really have a good reason, but if I did you'd be like 'I should go because that's a good reason'." He said this while he sat back down. Mirabel did not leave though, she went up to the chair and crouched down beside it, a little shorter than his level. "Tio Bruno, I need to figure something out.. And you might be the only person who would actually say anything." He looked back at her. "Okay, I'll try, what do you need help with?" "Are Juliette and Agustin really my parents? Is that why I didn't get a gift?" She doesn't know what Bruno was expecting but it wasn't that, he looked shocked she even thought this. "I wish I could tell you, but you wouldn't like the answer." "I don't care what the answer is, I just want to know the truth, please." He looked into her eyes, they were begging for the truth and he couldn't take lying to her. "You can't tell anyone if I tell you, okay?" Mirabel nodded. He sighed "Look, Juliette isn't your birth mother." Bruno admitted "Who and or where is my real mama then?" She was desperate to learn more, though kept her voice lower, though desperation still showed. "She, is sadly no longer with us. And I can't really remember her name, I barely knew her." He replied. "What about my papa? Why'd he leave me with Juliette and Agustin?" She was getting more upset than curious. This sentence broke Bruno's heart, "Please do not hate me when I tell you this, I had no choice." His voice was getting more faint at the end of the sentence and he was on the verge of tears. "But I am," Mirabel was shocked and hurt, she was about to say something but Bruno cut in "I'm so sorry, Mirabel, I had no choice. I truly wanted to raise you, but other people thought I wouldn't be good on my own and had me give you up." Tears glistened in his eyes as he said this. Mirabel had a range of emotions from this talk, she was shocked to find out her real parentage, sad that he never got to be raised by her real parents and was in turn given to her aunt and uncle, and mad at everyone who knew and never told her. She didn't know what to say so she just hugged him and cried, she couldn't tell if it was a happy cry or a sad cry, maybe it was both. She felt arms wrap around her and pat her back comfortingly. When she was done she looked back at Bruno, his hands on her shoulders. "I'm so proud of who you've become."

~End chapter three~