Welcome to my very first Encanto story! I've been coming across so many Encanto stories I just HAD to write one myself.

Now a note: I do not know much Spanish, but I have done my research on endearing terms and family titles. But I, of course, don't know everything. I will try not to make mistakes, but if I do, please correct me and I will fix it immediately.

I hope you enjoy it.

-Jenna

"Leti! The bad men are getting closer!" A young boy cried. He couldn't be older than 4 years old. His bright brown eyes were wide with terror as he could see them getting closer to them. Tears were falling in droves as he sobbed, "I don't want them to hurt you... Like they did Papi."

"Shh," She soothes, holding him closer as they continued to run, "It's gonna be okay." She told him, her eyes darting around in search of something. Unlike her little brother, her eyes were dull, a dim haze over them. How she was getting around so well was a mystery.

She was blind, after all.

But even though she did not have sight, there was something that only she could see.

When Aletia gazed around the forested mountains, her vision was awash in golden rays. They were warm on her skin yet fleeting in touch, leading her deeper and deeper into the mysterious mountains she found herself running towards. She held her little brother tighter in her arms, ignoring the yells coming from the distance.

"It will be okay, Emil." She told him, and his only response was to hold her tighter.

He was so light, lighter than any four-year-old should be. Constantly on the run from those horrible murderers, it was difficult to find food. She was probably even worse off than he was, but even if she was hungry, she gave whatever they came across to her brother.

She promised their Papi she would protect him, and it was a promise she would keep until the day she died.

She stumbled, tumbled, but continued to run. Closer and closer to that golden light until she came across a large rock side. The golden light she was 'seeing' was brightest on the rocky wall, and when she touched it, everything began to shake.

"Leti, the mountain, something's happening!" Emil yelled, looking around franticly. The earth beneath them was quaking, and Aletia held him tighter as she shielded him from any falling rocks or other debris. On the ground, he noticed the wall before them had changed, "There's a tunnel, hermana! Right in front of us!" He described.

"Go through," She said, putting him down quickly yet carefully, "I'll be right behind you."

"O-okay..." He said, pushing down his fear. Leti never told him to do something that would hurt him. She's always kept him safe, and he trusted her with all of his little being. He got down on his hands and knees and crawled inside the tunnel, Aletia doing the same.

They made their way through the tunnel, and Emil let out a surprised yelp when the light from the entrance suddenly closed in on itself. They could hear the angry and confused yells of their pursuers, getting farther and farther away. They had lost them, they were gone.

They... they were safe.

But now, it was completely dark.

"Leti...?" Emil whimpered. He did not like the dark. It scared him not knowing what was around. He didn't have his sister's cool power, he couldn't 'see' things beyond the dark. It only brought bad memories of the things he'd heard.

The bad men calling his sister a demon and chasing them.

The cries of the nice people getting hurt because they defended them.

Their Papi's yells, telling them to run.

The painful screams that followed.

His sister's tears as she promised to keep him safe.

The promise she made because Papi couldn't do it anymore.

All of those things happened at night, they happened in the dark. He didn't like the dark. What if it took something else away from him? What if it took Leti...?

Before his thoughts could continue, he felt a reassuring presence push him forward gently, "It's okay, mi luz," She said gently, "Everything's going to be okay now."

"¿Prometes?" He asked, receiving a reassuring pat on his back as they kept moving.

"Lo prometo." She answered.

It eased his mind. If Leti said so, then it had to be true. Her eyes never lie.

After crawling in the small tunnel for a bit, he saw light open up from in front of them. He smiled widely as he called to his sister, "Leti! Leti! I think I see the exit!"

She giggled at his excitement. His joy was like medicine for her heartache. When they both crawled out, she could hear his amazed gasps. Using her 'sight' was tiring, so she closed her eyes.

"It's so colorful! The trees are so big! Ooh! There's a river! The grass is so green! Leti!" He called, pulling her hand forward and placing it on a rough surface. "It's a tree, Leti! And it's the tallest tree I've ever seen! Oh, and over here!"

She felt her hand being led to touch something else, something softer. Pedals? A flower?

"This flower is super pretty! There are lots of them! I've never seen so many colors before!"

She tiredly giggled at her brother, "It's safe here, so you can explore for a bit."

"Really?!" He said, excited. Before, he never got the chance to explore much, it was too dangerous. Plus, he didn't like leaving his hermana alone for too long. Besides, the world on the other side of the mountain was nothing but a horrible and gray place. He didn't want to see more of that.

He didn't want to see more of a world that kept hurting his sister.

"Don't go too far, okay?" She whispered, her voice softer than before. She smiled a bit as his aura lit up with glee.

She could always 'see' these things. Their soul, their emotions, their intentions, and their pasts, this... curse could see it all clearly. She could see the silhouette of their being, and within that were splashes of color that represented their state of mind, the depth of their soul.

Everything that had life had a soul, and sometimes things that are loved gain the impression of a soul. It was this that she saw, that she read, and that only she could read.

When she opens her eyes, everything appears to her in a sort of inverted color. The outlines of flowers and trees, a flowing river, animals. She can see through and beyond all of them, though she can't actually see them, as others can.

Using this power is straining, and she can't use it every time she opens her eyes. To avoid using it unconsciously, which happens more often than not, she closes her eyes. Because of this, Emil took up being her means of sight, describing every little thing he came across as best he could.

Of all of the things she's 'seen', Emil is her favorite. He is so pure and bright, that's why she calls him 'mi luz', her light. He is the only star she sees in her dark world, her source of warmth and comfort. He was the only reason she could keep going in this horrible world, the only reason she chose to stay and fight and live.

Emil was her world.

"Okay!" The boy exclaimed. He was going to find the prettiest flower and give it to his sister. No, he was going to give her lots of pretty flowers! "I won't go where you can't hear me. I'll be really close by and call you every few minutes. I'm going to get you the prettiest of pretty flowers." He said with all of the determination a four-year-old could muster, "Because Leti is the prettiest."

Aletia ruffed his curly hair affectionately, "Such a charmer." She said, earning a giggle from her brother before he was off to find flowers. She could hear his voice not too far from her, simply amazed by everything he was seeing. As he promised he called her every now and then, never leaving a certain distance away from her.

Just as she wanted to be able to hear him, he wanted to see her. He didn't like when he didn't know where she was, he felt safer when he was around his sister. Seeing her brought him peace of mind because he knew that as long as she was there, everything would be okay.

The whole year since their Papi was killed, she had kept him safe. They kept each other safe. Aletia gave him everything, taught him everything. She sang him lullabies when he couldn't sleep, she played games with him when he was bored... everything. He never got to meet Mami, but if he tried to picture what she must have looked like, all he can imagine is Leti.

Aletia was his world, too.

Said girl was searching around with her other senses. She felt the rocks and the grass and the trees with her hands, taking in the scent of the flowing river and sweet berries. She listened to the songs of the birds and the clitters of the squirrels and growls of the larger beasts. She could taste the fresh air on her tongue as it glided into her lungs.

Plentiful fruit and freshwater, soft grass, and nothing hostile around them. Though she'd seen bigger animals here and there, they were nowhere near them, not even curious about them. She picked the fruit, her senses telling her they were ripe, and when she tasted them, she was surprised by how sweet they were.

No longer were they surrounded by the blistering heat of flames, breathing in the ash and smoke.

They weren't being hunted, no one was calling her those horrible names.

They didn't have to hope to find food or water or a place to sleep.

She didn't have to worry that someone would take Emil away from her, like they did their Papi.

Safe. At last, she could say that they were safe.

When it finally sank in, she collapsed to the ground. Aletia sat quietly, realization continuing to dawn on her. They had made it. They had finally made it. The place her Abuela tried to find for years, followed by her parents, and achieved by her and her brother.

She'd found the magical place, the one place that was truly safe.

She found herself suddenly captured in a hug. Emil's small arms wrapped around her as much as they could, flowers forgotten in his hand.

Drip. Drop. One drop, and then two, and those were followed by an endless flood from her eyes. She returned the hug, holding her treasure in her arms as he cried too. He realized it just as she realized it and came running back to her.

The dam had broken at the realization.

Whimpers grew until they became broken sobs; for the first time in years, Aletia allowed herself to cry in earnest. She cried for her Grandmother who shared her curse; she cried for her mother who didn't even get to hold Emil before she passed; she cried for her father who couldn't watch them grow; she cried for Emil who was too young to of had to endure so much.

And finally, she cried for herself. For fourteen long years, she had to endure. She had to be strong, no matter what people said or did. The words, the stones, the scrapes, the bruises, the worry, the doubt, the heartache, if any of them hurt she couldn't let it show. She wouldn't let them see it, she wouldn't give them that pleasure.

She was not a demon.

She was not an evil seer.

She was not a witch.

Neither she nor her grandmother had been the monsters they thought they were simply because they say what others didn't want them to. They weren't demons for being different. No one deserved to be outcasted, hurt, and killed because they were strange.

Her grandmother hadn't deserved that. Her parents didn't deserve that. Emil doesn't deserve that.

She didn't deserve that.

Her grandmother had the same curse she did, but she wasn't born with it as she was. She vaguely remembered that her grandmother would go on about a special place she wished dearly to find.

She said that she searched for years, hoping to reunite with her sister there. Something happened, though Aletia couldn't remember what, that had separated them. It was something about the mountains moving, and a bright and magical light pushing everyone outside of a certain range far, far away.

The bad men were killed, thankfully, but she was left with her son, that magical light having gotten into her eyes. It was after that she noticed she saw the world differently. She called it 'seeing the truth'. While her son hadn't gotten that 'gift', her granddaughter, Aletia, did, many years later.

It was much stronger than her grandmother's gift, her Abuela believing that to be the reason she was born blind; her eyes could not take the strain of it and gave way to make room for the power to grow. While it saddened her that her granddaughter was born blind, she never let a day go by where she didn't let her mariposa know how proud she was of her.

No matter what anyone said about them, her familia treated her like she was a gift.

To them, every part of her was beautiful.

To them, her eyes had been a wonder.

She was their Aletia, a girl who wanted to live a peaceful life with her family, grow up, and raise her own family one day in a safe, happy place. Her eyes weren't meant to hurt others. She just wanted other people to be happy, to be bright and cheerful and at peace as she once had been.

She didn't want to hide and run every second of her life.

She didn't want to be scared of tomorrow's demons and have nightmares about the past ones.

Why did they go so far just to find her?

Why did they go so far just to make her life miserable?

A hellish loop of hate and fear and pain. Even then, Aletia still managed to smile. The only reason she could do it, would do it, was for Emil. She smiled through all of her heartaches to keep his beautiful light from fading. With their parents gone, only Emil was left by her side.

He deserved to hear the words he never got to from Mami, he deserved to hear the stories from Abuela, he deserved the lullabies they missed from their Papi... Emil deserved so much more than this miserable life forced on him because he was her brother.

Happiness and Love were colors she wanted everyone to experience. It was all she wanted.

And now... now she had a chance for that. A chance to live, a chance to be, a chance... that didn't exist before.

No one will hurt Leti anymore, Emil realized.

We're safe now, Emil is safe now, with me, Aletia hugged him tighter.

She didn't know what the future held for them but she knew that this place was safe. That golden light, that magic, was kind, and warm. Even now, it was wrapping them up in what she could only interpret as an embrace, cradling them as they cried their hearts out. They had never known any place that felt so secure, even when their family had been there protecting them.

All of the stories they were told... all of their searching, praying, hoping... everything had led them here, to the place they couldn't be more certain of. There was no way for them to mistake something like this. They had found it at last.

They no longer needed to run or hide.

They had found Encanto.

To Be Continued...