El orgullo de Madrigal (Encanto x Oc)

{{𝐶ℎ𝑎𝑝𝑡𝑒𝑟 4}}

~💚~

Back in Antonio's room, the celebration is reaching its highest point, the quests and family dancing and chatting happily to the music. On the dance floor, Pepa dances with Antonio and Félix, the proud father pulling Abuela Alma up to dance, allowing the elder woman a moment of fun.

"Come on, Abuela! Tirame un paso... Wepa!" Felix exclaims happily as Abuela dances laughing.

Off to the side, Julieta and Camilo are sitting with Nikolai, trying to calm him down.

"You doing ok chico?" Julieta asked as she rubbed her hand up and down Nikolai's back.

Nikolai didn't say anything, only choked and exhaled as if to gag, but he managed to swallow it down. The young Madrigal's head was spinning, the flutters and spasms in his chest making it hard to breathe.

"Maybe he should call it a night Tia," Camilo spoke from beside his older cousin.

"...Ok, will you take him to his room?" Julieta looked over her two nephews.

Camilo nodded, helping Nikolai stand. The latter sucked in a breath through his teeth as he squeezed his eyes shut, the glowing jade fluttering as his eyes raced through set emotions.

But just as the two boys were about to head out, Mirabel runs in, pushing past people to get to her family.

"The house is in danger! The house is in danger!" She cries.

Everyone stops and looks at her, the band stops their music. Abuela stares at Mirabel, concerned., as most of the family does.

"The tiles were falling and there were cracks everywhere and... the candle almost went out," Mirabel exclaims out of breath.

People at the party begin to murmur uncomfortably. Abuela clocks this and looks at Mirabel.

"Show me," Abuela commands, following Mirabel out of Antonio's room.

Mirabel leads the family to the candle and presents them with... nothing, no cracks, the candle shines brightly.

"What? No, that's... the cracks were there, they were...everywhere. The house was in trouble, the~ the candle was..." Mirabel stumbles as she tried to understand what happened.

Abuela looks at the candle, then back to Mirabel, embarrassed and disappointed.

"Abuela, I promise~" Mirabel tried.

"That's enough." Abuela silenced her.

Nervous whispers build within the crowd, Abuela gives a pointed look to Mirabel, then puts on her "face of confidence" and turns to address the crowd.

"There is nothing wrong with La Casa Madrigal. The magic is strong...and so are the drinks! Please, music!" Abuela jokes and claps.

Agustín, realizing how awkward this is for Mirabel, motions to Luisa, who brings him a piano that he plays to smooth over the weirdness. Isabela looks at Mirabel and scoffs as people head back into the party, Julieta stands still looking at Mirabel, concerned. Nikolai and Camilo at her side. Nikolai looks over at Mirabel, his stomach turning, alerting him she was telling the truth, even if it didn't look like it.

"Come on Niko, let's get you to your room," Camilo ushered, using the hand he had around his cousin's waist to lead him to his door.

Nikolai nodded, turning away from a defeated-looking Mirabel and shuffling up the steps to his room before he and Camilo disappeared behind his door.

The next morning, the whole village has a late morning, exhausted from the party the night before. The Madrigal family, except Nikolai, sets up for breakfast on their outside patio, dishing up plates of fruit, mini arepas, and a mix of salads. Mirabel walks out confidently, looking to be on a mission of some sort before she sees Dolores serving food for herself and rushes toward her.

"Dolores, hey. You know, out of all my older cousins, you're like my favorite cousin, so I feel like I can talk to you about anything, ergo you can talk to me about anything, like the problem with the magic last night that no one seemed to worry about, but maybe you heard about that maybe I should know about." Mirabel goes off as if speaking so much so fast is the most normal thing in the world.

Dolores looks down at Mirabel like she'd just been caught stealing a cookie, and rightfully so as Felix walks up behind Mirabel.

"Camilo! Stop pretending your Dolores so you can have seconds." He lectures his son.

The "DOLORES" near Mirabel, morphs back into "Camilo."

"Worth a shot," Camilo shifted back with a cheeky smile.

Casita gives him a whack on the butt, trying to get him to drop his food before a second one sends him away.

"Everyone to the table. Let's go, let's go," Abuela calls as she exits the kitchen.

Everyone shuffles to the table, sitting down with their food as Abuela speaks.

"Family, we are all thankful for Antonio's wonderful new... gift..." Abuela goes to sit in her chair but finds coatis in it instead.

"I told 'em to warm up your seat." Antonio smiles at Abuela, who manages a smile back.

"Thank you, Toñito. I'm sure today we'll find a way to put your blessings to good use... as must we all, we are the caretakers of this Encanto..." Abuela continues as Mirabel leans over to Luisa.

"Luisa, Dolores says you're totally freaking out, any chance you maybe know something about last night, with the magic~?" Mirabel interrogates, with Luisa twitching.

"You do!" Mirabel pounds the table, excited.

"Mirabel!" Mirabel looks up, busted by Abuela, for talking while Abuela was giving a speech.

"If you can't pay attention I will help you."

"Actually, I~" Abuela cut Mirabel off.

"Casita?" The House moves Mirabel next to Abuela, away from Luisa.

"As I was saying, we must never take our miracle for granted, so today, we will work twice as hard."

"Mhmm, I will help Luisa~" Mirabel stands to go back to Luisa, but Abuela continues.

"Stop. First, an announcement. I've spoken to the Guzmans about Mariano's proposal to Isabela. Dolores, do we have a date?" Abuela looks at her granddaughter.

"Tonight. He wants five babies." Dolores answered, tilting her head back from listening over the town.

Isabela nervously sprouts some flowers in her hair as she blushes.

"Wonderful, such a fine young man with our perfect Isabela~" She preaches as she plucks a white flower from amongst all the pink in Isabela's hair.

"~will bring a new generation of magical blessings and make both of our families stronger." Abuela finishes before the sounds of someone walking toward them pulled everyone's attention.

The family looks to the kitchen entrance, watching a hooded Nikolai slowly exit the doorway. Abuela looks over her grandson with judgemental eyes before turning back to the rest of the family. Mirabel watched Nikolai walk forward, he had his tangled hair hanging in his face, the light bags under his eyes darker than usual... he obviously didn't get any sleep last night. Mirabel watched her cousin drop himself down into the empty chair opposite Abuela's seat, his hands in his pockets as he seemed to withdraw himself from everything.

"Okay, our community is counting on us, La familia Madrigal!" Abuela called.

"La Familia Madrigal!" Everyone but Nikolai chanted as they stood from breakfast.

"Hey, Luisa! Hold up!" Mirabel calls as she runs after her sister.