She sat in her new room, her Mamá next to her. The small girl who had only just turned five clasped her hands over her ears as she squirmed.

"Mamí, it's too loud. It hurts. Make it stop Mamí!" She begged.

"Mi amour, you need to learn to control it. You need to practice. We have already moved to your room to try and minimise the noise." Pepa ran her hand through her daughter's curls while Félix stood helpless.

He felt so bad, like he was failing as a father. His happy, smiley, loud little girl in so much pain and agony. It was like someone was stabbing his heart over and over. He knew that it was worse on his wife. They both learned that the clouds that Dolores used to love would now send her into a sensory overload.

It just felt wrong. His little girl, so quiet. She had always been loud and curious. But now? Now she was anything but.

Dolores' new room was her favourite room in Casita. It was so quiet. Instead of wood or tiled floors, it was carpet. A million cushions were scattered everywhere and the walls shut out the majority of outside noise. To many, her room was too quiet. Awkwardly quiet. But for her it was comforting. It was a place she could finally take a break.

"Niña, once you learn to control your gift you will be able to go out and help your family in the community. You can help make your family proud." Abuela spoke up from the room's entrance. "You will learn how to control it and you will help the encanto. That is your job as a Madrigal." She was slowly becoming irritated with her granddaughter.

"I don't care about the community! I hate this stupid gift! I wish I never got one!" She yelled as she grimaced at all the overwhelming noise. "I wish I was never part of this family! I wish I could just be a normal girl!"

Both of Dolores' parents stiffened at her words, cautiously looking at a now very upset Abuela.

"Dolores Madrigal!" Abuela scolded, raising her voice causing Dolores to wince at the sudden loud noise.

"Mamá…" Pepa held her hand up to her mother, eyes begging for her to stop, doing her best to keep her own voice hushed.

"No, Pepa." She interrupted as she moved closer. "How could you say that Dolores? We have been blessed with these gifts, with this miracle. And you wish for it to be gone? Shame on you." She took a deep breath out.

"Why can't you be more like our perfect Isabela?" Tears filled Dolores' eyes as she heard the disappointment in her Abuela's voice.

Both Pepa and Félix quickly came to her defence, Papí more than Mamí.

"You will learn to control it." Abuela said before walking out. It wasn't reassuring, it wasn't comforting. It was a demand.

The door closed loudly behind Abuela causing the girl to jump.

It was too much for the girl who had her gift given to her mere days ago.

It was too much.

She began to cry. Half of it out of pain and overloading and the other from the knowledge that she was letting her family down.

Those cries slowly turned into sobs. Through her anguish both her Mamí and Papí did their best to soothe their little girl's distress.

She could hear her Papí huff before following Abuela out of the room. She looked up and saw the door close gently.

Had she disappointed Papí too?

She snuggled closer to her Mamí, desperate for this feeling to go away.

"Clear skies. Clear skies. Clear skies." She repeated to herself over and over. That's what Mamí did to calm down.

She tried her very best to calm her breathing. She pressed her ear against her Mamí's chest hearing her slightly elevated heartbeat. Copying the beats with her breaths

Great… now Mamí was upset too.

Though Dolores was only so little, she knew her Mamí was doing her very best to keep her clouds at bay. What she wasn't entirely sure is whether it was for her sake or her Mamí's.

"That's good mi amour." She heard her Mamí say as she also took a deep breath. "You're doing so good mi amour." She gently rubbed up and down along her back. "I'm so proud of you mi vida."

A constant stream of reassurances fell out of her Mamí's mouth.

As the two calmed down Dolores could hear the muffled noise of two people yelling. She pulled her ear away from where it had been using Pepa's heartbeat as a means of grounding and instead found herself focusing on the yelling.

She couldn't understand all of what was being said, her room did it's very best to lock out as much noise. But it couldn't stop everything.

The longer she focused, she managed to figure out the sources of the voices.

Papí and Abuela…

The two were fighting.

She was surprised as she heard him yell. Her Papí never yells. He always chose to talk it out instead of yelling.

"She's five!" He screamed. "She's a child! She doesn't have to be perfect!"

"She is a Madrigal." Abuela retorted. "That's her job."

She strained her ears to try and hear what they were saying.

Nothing but muffled noise.

Then.

"None of this would be a problem if she was more like Isabela." Abuela's words sliced through the air like a sharp knife. "All she is at the moment," She paused. "Is a burden."

Dolores could feel the air being sucked from her lungs as she heard those words.

"Clear skies. Clear skies. Clear skies." Dolores muttered, her voice becoming shakier and shakier each time.

She could feel her Mamí's questioning gaze, confused as to why she had all of a sudden gotten so worked up.

Unsure of what to do, Pepa just held her daughter tighter.

Then, Bruno walked in.

The two looked up as he gently closed the door.

"Not good in here huh?" He spoke gently.

Dolores shook her head while Pepa gave a strained look at her younger brother.

"What do you need Bruno?" She asked, a little too loud, causing Dolores to release a small yelp.

"Ay, I'm sorry niña." She apologised.

"Um… Well… you… um…" He stuttered, trying his best to get what he wanted to say out loud.

"Spit it out Bruno." Pepa said, obviously too focused on her daughter to worry how harsh she was being to her brother.

"You might want to go and try and calm Félix." He sent an apologetic look. "He's pretty upset."

"And just leave Dolores here alone?" She whispered.

"I can stay with her." Bruno suggested. "If that's okay. If it's not, that's also okay. But that way she's not… you're not…" Bruno said quickly, stuttering at the end.

Pepa looked down at the girl.

"What do you think, niña?" She asked, her words so full of love. "Is it okay if your Tío stays with you while I go see what's happening?"

Dolores nodded, as she shifted off of her Mamá's lap.

"I'll be right back, okay?"

"Okay."

Bruno walked further into the room stopping as he and Pepa crossed paths. She gave him a stare that conveyed a silent conversation.

It was a stare that he had become all too familiar with over the years from both his hermanas and his Mamá.

'Don't give me reason to have to worry about you.'

He nodded to his sister before continuing to his sobrina. Pepa watched as her brother sat next to her little girl, happily obliging as she crawled into his lap content to have her snuggle into him. He whispered something to her that Pepa couldn't make out before slipping out of the room.

"Tío," Bruno's head shot down at Dolores' small voice. "My head hurts." She quietly mumbled. Bruno shifted his hands to rest on the temples of her forehead before gently rubbing in circles, putting a small amount of pressure on her head.

"Working?" He asked.

"Mhm." She hummed, barely nodding. "How'd you know that would work?" She questioned.

"I learned how to do it when I started getting my headaches and migraines." He answered.

"Your head hurts sometimes?" She snuggled closer.

"Yeah, sometimes, when I have visions my head hurts after. I learnt how to do this when I was only a little bit older than you."

"Can you show me how to do it?" She asked.

"Sure." He smiled down at her, taking her hands in his before placing her fingers in the place his had been seconds ago.

She began to rub her head, smiling when it began to help her migraines. "It's working Tío!" Her smile brightened.

A crack of thunder could be heard from downstairs and mumbled yells followed. Dolores' smile dropped.

"You don't have to listen to them Lola." He said to her, using her nickname.

"They're talking about me." She muttered. "Abuela hates me." She added.

Bruno was shocked when he heard her small voice.

"She… no… um…" He was never good at this part with children.

"It's because I'm not as perfect as Isabela." She said.

"You um…" He paused. "You're right. You're not as perfect as Isa." He shrugged.

Dolores began to shake in his lap.

"Because you are perfect as Dolores." He continued.

"She's upset because I'm not good with my gift."

Bruno's heart broke. He knew exactly what she was feeling. What it felt like to be on the end of his Mamá's disappointment. No five-year-old should ever feel that way.

"But Isa's powers are different than yours." He explained. "I know how you feel. Your Abuela wasn't too happy with how long it took your Mamá and me to learn how to handle our gifts." He confessed. "Unlike Isabela, who can choose when she uses her powers, you have to have yours working overtime, all the time. It can be a lot."

"I wish I didn't get a gift." She admitted, her eyes immediately turning to the door, hoping her Abuela hadn't heard her say that again.

"I know that feeling." Bruno chuckled. "But, if there's one thing I know, you are just like your Mamá." He brushed a fallen lock of hair out of her face. "And if your Mamá learnt to control it, you will too." He winked at the small girl, causing her to giggle. "I'm sure that your powers will get better as you get older. Until then, we figure it out. Yeah?"

She smiled and nodded at her Tío's words.

"And, I'll always be here if you need or want to talk about anything. I'll always be here if you need me."

"You promise?" She held out her pinky.

"Promise." He smiled, interlocking their pinkies.

oOoOoOoOoOoO

It had been only one night since Mirabel didn't get her gift. And all of the adults wouldn't stop arguing.

Tío Bruno was right about one thing, her powers had gotten stronger over the years.

It was both a blessing and a curse.

She had finally begun to please Abuela. She had finally begun to officially take her place as a Madrigal.

But.

She couldn't make the noise stop. Even hiding away in her room.

She sat in the very same spot her Tío had made that promise.

But this time? This time, instead of muffled noise it had just lowered the volume.

Mirabel didn't have her gift.

Tío Bruno was gone.

Her head hurt.

She took a deep breath before rubbing her temples doing her best to starve away the ache.

She wished he was here.

She wished she could talk about how horrible this was without being scolded.

"You broke your promise." She whispered.