Bruno ended up being the one who was available to take Mirabel to school that morning, Julieta deciding to leave early for her food stand and check in on Luisa and Isabela, and test out her new ability to heal with just a touch, while Agustin tended to the animals.
"You know Tio," Mirabel said, "I don't think that I've ever seen how your gift works."
"Trust me, you don't need to see it."
"Yes I do," Mirabel chirped, "I need to know how your gift currently works to know how to make it easier for you."
"Well," Bruno said curtly, "You can start by removing the obnoxious involuntary visions," he insisted.
"They seem to be helpful," Mirabel insisted, "At least from what I've seen, you've helped Luisa when she passed out when we were leaving, and stopped Sofia from running into Camilo when she was running to Luisa, and you encouraged Tomas to…"
"Okay, okay, I get the point, sometimes my involuntary visions are useful," Bruno interrupted, "But can you keep them down? Like I don't know, like have them only pop up if there's an emergency?"
"How about ones that you can affect, like when Luisa passed out, you could catch her? In fact we should do it for all your visions, that will stop them from being able to claim that you make bad things happen."
"What?"
"Like Osvaldo's vision, you showed him that he was going to get fat," Mirabel said, "Right? He's really vocal about it, what if he was shown two options, one where he sat down and ate candy all day, and one where he went on a diet and excercised regularly. Only one of those will lead to him being fat, and it depends on what he chooses to do. That way the person asking for the vision will be the one responsible for their future. I think that your gift will work better that way."
"Somethings are set in stone and no matter what people do they can't stop it," Bruno insisted, "When it's time for someone to die it's time for them to die."
"Well, if it can't be changed then it can't be changed, I'll go to the council, or have Mama go to the council, I don't think that they will listen to me, and see if we can't get a contract or law or somehting that will prevent people from attacking you due to a vision. Now that I'm the official Candle Holder things are going to change."
"Your Abuela isn't going to like that," Bruno insisted.
"She's going to have to deal with it," Mirabel insisted, "I have the candle and Casita, the gifts respond just to me now. Like it or not, I'm the Candle Holder. I have the door to prove it," she announced, smuggly, before looking at her tio, "So what do you say, should I change your gift some?"
"Let me think about it kid, okay?" Tio Bruno insisted, as a loud barking noise filled the air.
Mirabel forgot completely about altering Bruno's gift as Hector plowed into her, head butting her eagrly and running around in circles, "What are you doing here," she asked with a laugh, patting his head softly.
"Running from me, apparently," Isabela announced, jogging up to them and attaching a vine to Hector's stem, "He ran out the door when one of my roommates opened it," she explained, swiping her forehead, "I've been chasing him for the past two blocks. I don't really trust him out on his own, Some villager might try to grab him just because he's magical. So what's up?"
"Well," Mirabel said slowly, "Abuelo sold Mama and Papa his house, and he moved in with Tia Maria," she announced, "And as soon as Papa and Abuelo signed the agreement, these magical doors appeared in the living room, one lead straight to Luisa's living room, and the other one leads straight to the upstair balcony of La Casa Madrigal, it exited where Mama's door is there."
"La Casa Madrigal, don't you mean Casita?" Isabela asked.
Mirabel shook her head, "No, Casita moved out last night, she got tired of constantly cracking because of all of the fighting, so she packed up her candle and moved in with us."
"Brought our rooms with her as well," Bruno confessed, "Scared me half to death."
"Actually," Mirabel said, "The rooms come from the house being owned by a Madrigal," she announced, "Luisa's got her room as well, now that she's officially moved in with Tomas."
Isabela frowned, "So everyone else has their magical rooms, and their houses are magically connected, and I'm stuck renting a small bedroom and sharing a kitchen and living area with a bunch of strangers?"
"Yep," Mirabel said brightly as Bruno stumbled, a green mist covering his eyes, "Oh, you're having a vision!" she exclaimed, "Great, I want to see it, so that I can know how to adjust your gift to make it work for you better, can I please."
"The best thing you can do for me is take the curse away," he insisted.
"Sorry, my gift doesn't work that way," Mirabel insisted.
"What are you talking about?" Isabela asked.
"It's pretty cool," Mirabel insisted, "I can adjust your gifts so that they are easier to handle."
"Hey, I have an idea," Bruno interrupted, "Isabela, why don't you take Mirabel to school while I deal with this," he pointed to his eyes, before hurrying into an alleyway.
Mirabel looked at Isabela, "You know, as Candle Holder, I really need to see how Bruno's gift works so that I can adjust it," she announced.
"I'm sure that your teacher will be understanding if you're a little late, especially as today is your first day as a full Candle Holder."
"Yeah, and because Abuela neglected to do certain duties while she was Candle Holder I have a lot of work I need to do," Mirabel insisted, leading the way into the alleyway as the sky above them got dark.
"What's got Tia so…"
"That's not Tia, it's Tio, no wonder people think he's a curse, that's kind of spooky, it needs to go," Mirabel insisted, sending in a golden butterfly. There was a gold glow and the skies cleared.
"That was pretty cool, now what?" Isabela asked only to pause when Hector whined and admitted that he was scared, "I'm going to wait here with Hector, he doesn't like what he's seeing.
Mirabel nodded stepping into the vision, "Tio, what's going on? You don't usually cause a storm when you get a vision."
"I do when I summon one, this one didn't make sense, I needed more details, so I had to summon it."
Mirabel watched in amazement as a young woman, probably close to her age, if she was to guess, appeared, walking towards a river with a small bundle in her arms, which she carefully toss into the river, before looking around and hurrying away. The vision zoomed in on the bundle, revealing a newborn baby right before it went under the water and drowned.
"Who would do something like that?" Mirabel demanded.
"I don't know, I believe that one was from outside Encanto, based on what we saw in the background, just on the other side of the mountain," Bruno said, "See what I mean, there's nothing I can do about that. That baby's going to drown!"
"Maybe not," Mirabel said, flicking her wrist and sending another butterfly towards him, "It hasn't happened yet, so perhaps we can change the outcome, if you leave now, do you think that you might have a chance to get there before the baby drowns?" she asked.
Bruno frowned, scrunching up his brow, "I have no idea," he insisted.
"Well then check it out," Mirabel insisted, "Have another vision, see if you can intervene."
Bruno sighed, drawing another circle and setting more herbs to burn before summoning the vision again. This time right before the teenager was about to throw the baby into the water, she looked up startled and Bruno and Dolores appeared. They seemed to talk to each other and the girl handed the baby to Bruno.
The vision faded and Bruno stared at Mirabel in disbelief, "I don't get it, the vision was different the second time around."
"Of course," Mirabel said, "Because you had made up your mind that you were going to try to make it there in time, and then the vision showed you how your actions will affect the future. You saved a baby's life, you should be proud Bruno."
"I should be going," Bruno insisted, "Find Dolores and send her my way, I'm going to need her help if I'm going to find the right spot."
In the distance the school bell rang, alerting the students of the start of the school day, "Looks like I'm going to be tardy," Mirabel announced, before adding, "Dolores, Bruno needs you, a life is at stake, meet him in the forest, he'll explain everything when you get there, and afterwards find me, I want to adjust your gift so that it's easier to handle."
With that she left, heading towards the fields instead of the school, she was already late, she might as well make sure that one less member of the Madrigal family was suffering from their gift.
…
Several farmers were trying to get Pepa to rain, which meant they had to make her cry, they actually got a cloud to form after a cruel remark about how her husband only married her to gain the Madrigal name. They were about to say something else when Pepa's cloud suddenly disappeared and there was a crash of thunder behind them.
"Leave Tia Pepa alone," Mirabel Madrigal insisted, her Tia's cloud over her own head, crackling with lightning.
"Wha…" one of the farmers started.
"How?" another asked.
"Shouldn't you be in school?" the third one asked.
Mirabel shrugged, "The Miracle gave me the position of Candle Holder, and there's a long list of to do's that Abuela's been ignoring for the last forty-five years. I'm sure my teacher would understand."
"How do you have your tia's gift?" the second farmer finally asked.
"What is going on here," the first farmer demanded.
"I borrowed Tia's gift to get your attention," Mirabel insisted, "You are bullies and slave drivers," she announced, "How would you feel if someone purposely made you cry? Bad right? So why the heck do you lazy cows think that it's okay for you to make Tia Pepa cry?"
"Because when she cries she waters our crops," one of the farmers protested.
"Correction," Mirabel insisted, twisting her hand and sending a golden butterfly towards Pepa who glowed slightly, "That's how her gift use to work. If you want help watering your crops you need to apologize to her for being bullies and ask her nicely. If you don't, I'll find out, and I'll zap you with her lightning, or maybe she will, she has my permission. Don't worry Tia, I changed the way your gift work, so all you have to do is think about a specific weather and it will change to it."
Pepa blinked, glancing up to notice that she didn't have a cloud.
"Why don't you think up something that will teach these bullies that they can't be bullies?"
Pepa smirked, thinking of a small tornado chasing the poor fools around. The wind picked up and just with a single thought a tornado chased the farmers into a nearby barn, locking them in.
"Wow," Pepa said, "That's amazing."
"It gets better than that," Mirabel insisted, "Think of something super sad, that always makes you cry when you think about it. Like Tio Bruno leaving."
"Why in the world would I want to think about that!" Pepa demanded.
"No cloud," Mirabel announced proudly, pointing up to above her tia's head.
…
"Let me get this straight," Dolores said as she hiked up the mountain with Bruno, "You had a vision of a baby drowning, Mirabel fiddled with your gift, suggested that you go save it, you had the vision again, and it was different?"
"Yep, multiple outcomes, depending on the actions of those who see the vision," Bruno said, "Which means that I'll have to do visions in person, something I haven't done since I was your age," he admitted, "Hopefully the change in my gift will make things easier, and make it so that they can see how they are the ones effecting their future not me cursing them."
Dolores nodded before gasping, "Oh, Mirabel just adjusted Mama's gift, that's nice, she doesn't have to worry about her emotions getting in the way of her gift."
Bruno grunted, continuing to climb.
…
They had been hiking for just over an hour when they finally showed up at a river, "Hello," Dolores called out softly, "Anybody there?"
"She'll be here soon," Bruno insisted, right as a person appeared on the other side of the river, a small bundle in her hand. She glanced around to see if anyone was around. Her eyes locked on Bruno and Dolores in surprise.
"Hola," she said sofly.
"Hola," Bruno greeted as well, finding some stepping stones to get to the other side, Dolores following close behind her, "What are you doing here?"
"Nothing," the girl said, hiding the bundle behind her back.
"Is that a baby?" Dolores asked, "What are you doing with it?"
"This thing is going to ruin my life if Mama and Papa learn about it, I have to get rid of it," she insisted.
"Surely there's an orphanage, or church that you can leave the baby at?" Bruno suggested
The teen paused, "I didn't think about that," she admitted, "But I don't know of any orphanages and the priest will tell my padres what happened, I can't let that happen."
Bruno cleared his throat, the vision showed her handing him the baby, "We're from a village not far from here," he admitted, "I'm sure that we can find her a loving home if you want, we won't even tell them what your name is, just that we found the baby and it needs a loving home."
"You can do that?"
"Si," Dolores said, as the teen held out the baby.
Bruno reached out, taking the baby. As soon as he had the baby in his arms his eyes glowed green. Him humming happily as he rocked in the rocking chair feeding the baby a bottle. Him laughing in delight as a baby held her arms up towards him and said something. A baby toddling happily towards him, arms outstretched. A little girl looking up at him nervously as she walked towards a glowing door with Mirabel standing in front of it, candle in her hand.
He gasped as he shook his head in disbelief.
"What was that," the teen asked.
"I know who's going to take her," he announced in awe.
"Who?" Dolores asked.
"Me, I think? It's obviously a Madrigal," Bruno announced.
...
Mirabel was waiting for them at the edge of town, with a golden butterfly that went straight to Dolores's chest, "There you go, all you have to do is focus on someone or a part of town, and you'll hear it, but the rest of the time it's going to be normal hearing, unless someone calls your name twice, that will cause your hearing to zero in on them, for emergencies you know?"
"Thank you," Dolores offered, "But you didn't have to sneak out of school to come adjust my gift, I was going to come find you this afternoon."
"I know," Mirabel said, "But I wanted to get it over with, Abuela should have done that the moment you got your gift, it wasn't that hard to do," she insisted, before turning to Bruno, "So do you have any ideas on who can take the baby in?"
"Actually," Bruno said nervously shifting the baby in his arms.
"He's planning on keeping her," Dolores explained, "He had a vision when we got her, and apparently she's a Madrigal and he's calling dibs."
"Okay, cool, we can set up the spare room in Casita as a nursery, go talk to Mama, she can help you figure out what you're going to need, Papa," Mirabel said.
"Papa, I'm a papa now," Bruno gasped, "I don't think I ever thought I'll be someone's papa."
Dolores gave him a look, "You're the one that's insisting on taking the baby," she said, "Well, I'm off, Mama and Papi will want to know that I've visited you, and they'll want help packing. We're moving in with Tio Carlos until we can find our own place."
…
Alma Madrigal was furious, first Mirabel embarrassed her in front of the Guzmans, then Julieta had packed her family up and told those ridiculous stories about her being abusive and controlling, and now, now Mirabel had somehow snuck into the house at night and stole the candle, taking it and Casita back to the farmhouse where she was living with her parents. She knew that she stole the candle because she told several farmers that she was the new candle holder.
As she stormed pass the school, she wasn't really paying attention to where she was going, until she ran straight into someone.
"Oof, lo siento," the person grunted, "I wasn't paying much attention to where I was going," she admitted, "I need to be back at scho... Abuela?!"
Alma Madrigal blinked, sure enough she had ran into Mirabel, "What have you been up to, shouldn't you be in school?" she demanded.
"Oh, I am," Mirabel said, "But it's lunch time, and my teacher allowed me to talk to Dolores, she was very understanding when I told her that I had just replaced you as Candle Holder and there's a lot of things that I need to take care of."
"Stop with the lies Mirabel!" Alma snapped, reaching towards her, "You are not the Candle Holder, when I pass, that title will go to your Madre and then Isabela, It will never go to you because you are nothing but a trouble maker and waste of space so just give me back the candle before I tell the guards that you stole it."
Mirabel knew what was about to happen a second before it did, but there was nothing she could do. The moment her abuela went to hit her, she felt a flare of magic inside her as a golden wave, just like the one the abuelos described when telling the story of how Encanto was formed, burst out from her and hit Abuela straight in the chest.
Abuela froze in surprise, glancing at the wave of energy coming from Mirabel, who had a look of pure terror on her face, before she felt crippling pain convulse on her whole body and she toppled down to the ground. The last thing she heard before everything went dark was Mirabel's scream of utter disbelief.
A/N: So what happened between Mirabel and Alma? As for the baby, those who read Healing Takes Awhile already met her in First Steps. I've been really excited to finally bring her into this story.