Luisa was in her room, she didn't really want to go anywhere, or see anyone. It was so pathetic, she was supposed to be the strong one, yet, she couldn't even carry a piano from one room to the other.

"YOU HAVE TO STOP MIRABEL!" the shout of her abuela came from downstairs, causing Luisa to sit up off her bed. Why was Abuela yelling at Mirabel? She knew that Abuela was always hard on her younger sister.

Luisa sighed, she had no idea where Mama and Papa were, and she knew from painful experience that no one else in the family would stand up for and protect her little sister. But that was okay, Mirabel was her Hermanita, her baby sister, that was her job… but could she do it without her gift.

She slowly made her way downstairs, grimacing as she heard every word that Abuela said, "The cracks started with you, Bruno left because of you, Luisa is losing her powers, Isabela's out of control, because of you. I don't know why you weren't given a gift, but it is not an excuse for you to hurt this family!"

Luisa moved, ready to step between the two, and keep Mirabel out of Abuela's line of fire, however, she stopped looking alarmed at the cracks spreading throughout the floor. She looked back up as Mirabel's voice filled the air.

"I would never be good enough for you," Mirabel's voice broke, "Will I?"

Julieta and Agustin arrived, standing next to Luisa and Isabela. Luisa shifted, she should do something, she should intervene, but how, what could she say?

"No matter how hard I try," Mirabel continued, glancing over at her family, "No matter how hard any of us tries… Luisa will never be strong enough, and Isabela will never be perfect enough. Bruno left our family because you only saw the worst of him."

"Bruno didn't care about this family!" Abuela snapped.

Luisa shifted, she really should interfere, but Mama and Papa were just standing there and Mirabel's been holding this in for such a long time it must feel good to get it off her chest.

"Bruno loves this family!" Mirabel shouted back, "I love this family, we all love this family. You're the one that doesn't care. You're the one breaking our home…"

"Don't you ever…" Abuela started to interrupt, but Mirabel didn't allow her to finish.

"The Miracle is dying because of you!" Mirabel yelled.

Luisa stepped forward this had gone on long enough, she couldn't imagine what Abuela would do to Mirabel after that accusation. She had to protect Mirabel.

A loud cracking sound filled the air, causing the whole family to look up at the window that housed the candle, cracks were spreading up the wall, breaking the window sill and knocking the candle over.

"The candle," Abuela shouted.

Everything was happening so quickly. Luisa's feet were glued to the ground, she couldn't move, all she could do was watch in horror as Mirabel ran further into the house as large chunks started to fall around her.

"No," Isabela called out, forming a vine, "Mirabel, come back it isn't safe!" she called out, swinging out after their sister.

She was almost there, almost to Mirabel when the cracks reach her door, causing it to go dark. The vine she was using disappeared. Luckily Casita managed to catch her and lower her to the ground. Camilo landed down next to her as his gift failed as well, yet Mirabel was still climbing up towards the candle.

Antonio's animal friends fled Casita, Tio Felix scooping Antonio up and pulling him away as his door fell from the second floor.

Casita's floor started to ripple as Felix announced, "We have to get out of here!"

Luisa still couldn't move, her eyes still trained on her sister as she climbed closer and closer to the candle, no, no, no, no, this wasn't right, she needed to move. She needed to get to Mirabel, she needed to save her.

"Mirabel, we need to go!" Julieta called out as she fought against Casita who was moving Luisa closer and closer to the front door, sending her tumbling out with the rest of her family.

"Mirabel! The house is going to fall. Mirabel! Get out!" Luisa added her voice to that of her parents and tios.

She could see Mirabel, she had the candle in her hand, but Bruno's tower was falling. Mirabel was moving fast, disappearing from sight behind the wall, and then… then the house collapsed.

…

Luisa sat up with a gasp, wrestling with the blankets that she had cocooned herself in at the same time she tried to calm her racing heart. Why, oh why had she just stood there? Why hadn't she done something, anything? Why didn't she intervene? Mirabel could have died! She could have been crushed to death by Casita. She was fast she should have raced after her and grabbed her before she started to climb up to the roof. She should have thrown her over her shoulder and made sure that she had gotten out safely. She should have intervened, she should have stopped Abuela and Mirabel from fighting, somehow, some way.

She sighed, running her hand over her face, she suspected that that nightmare was going to be a common occurrence for a while at least. How could she have been so stupid! She had just stood there, stood there, and watched her hermanita, her baby sister, risk her life for a stupid candle.

She sniffled a little, but that was all, she wasn't a crier, she was strong, she was stro…

"Luisa, is that you?" a soft voice called out. Luisa quickly swiped at her eyes and nose, trying to get rid of the evidence that she's been crying before the owner of the voice got to close, "Are you crying?" the voice whispered as her younger sister crouched down next to her.

"No," Luisa insisted, angrily swiping at her eyes.

"It's okay if you are," Mirabel insisted, rubbing Luisa's broad back.

"How can you say that? You could have been killed. I just stood there and you could have been killed!"

Mirabel paused, her hand hovering over Luisa's back as if it wasn't sure if it should continue on its circular motion, "You're talking about me going after the candle aren't you?"

"No! Yes, maybe… not really, the whole thing… I could have prevented the whole thing, if I had just intervened, if I had just stepped in, we could have…"

"I was the one who chose to yell at Abuela, it's my fault."

"I could have intervened," Luisa pointed out, "I didn't protect you," she whispered, "I'm your big sister, I'm the strong one, and I failed, I failed miserably."

"No, no, Luisa," Mirabel insisted, "You can't always be the strong one, in fact, I think it makes you stronger when you have to admit that you need help or can't do something."

"I still should have done something when Casita started to fall, but I was rooted to the spot."

"Hey," Mirabel cupped Luisa's face in her hands, "I don't blame you, it was my stupid decisions, not yours."

"It's not your fault either," Luisa insisted, "If the cracks were as bad as you and Tio Bruno said, then I have a feeling Casita would have fallen no matter what you had done, at least you were able to reach Abuela before it was too late."

"Yeah, I guess," Mirabel said with a soft hum, her hand still rubbing circles on her older sister's back, enjoying the peaceful silence together until the others started to stir around them.