Unconditional Love

Bruno took Mirabel and Juano inside. To their shock, the house's insides were so dark. And to make matters worse, cracks were creeping along the walls.

"It's just back at the old casita," dreaded Mirabel.

"We have to investigate that cave," Juano acknowledged.

Bruno became confused. "'Cave'?"

"We found a cave with a dark magic symbol on it. We fear there's something dreadful that's been corrupting our magic. If we stop it, we just might be able to save the city,"

"How do we know what lies in there?" Bruno was pale with fright. "How do we know there's not something dangerous?"

Mirabel and Juano were lost for words. They turned to each other, fearing for one another's safety. But they knew one thing. They had to be strong. For the sake of their home, their people, their family.

Outside Antonio was playing with his cousins whilst Isandra and Gabriella stood together, staring out at the campsite of all those who had left their former home to come here for refuge. They thought about their family and their burning resentment for Mirabel and Juano. Isandra was most scared of all how they would react if they came anywhere near their crumbling home and saw the new children. What would they think? What would they do?

"I'm really scared tia," she dreaded. "I'm scared of what they'll try to do if they came anywhere near here,"

"That's never going to happen," said Gabriella with certainty, though behind that strong tone, her niece detected a panicking beat.

Mirabel twiddled her fingers nervously, the men behind her. Her best friend and tia came forward. Antonio cocked his head towards her and she gave him a gentle look and he nodded. He was to keep the children at bay; they didn't need to hear anything. Pedro still glanced worriedly towards his family, anxious about what they were gonna discuss in private.

"We think going into that cave corrupted by dark magic will give us answers on how to save our home…but we don't know for certain…if it will work," Mirabel said anxiously.

"But we have a chance," said Gabriella. "We can't give up on our home,"

"We won't," said Juano with determination. "But we fear that going inside could still have terrible consequences," he pursed his lips.

"There's no easy way to say this…" Mirabel twiddled her fingers. "But we may have to evacuate the entire city…in case things get worse,"

"But where are we supposed to go?" asked Isandra. They knew that beyond their borders were the terrible droughts that had dried up Columbia and the likelihood of more terrible conquerors roaring the continent.

"I'm afraid we have no choice," said Juano. "We can't let them stay here and put them at risk. We need to tell them sooner or later,"

"And how do you plan to tell this to the children?" Gabriella questioned her husband, a bit passive-aggressively.

Bruno looked torn apart as he gazed at their kids with Antonio. It felt hard to even have th the guts to think what words to use to tell them a hurtful truth.

Suddenly Juano felt a painful pang in the heart and he felt his head aching like something was crushing him from the inside. He fell to his knees, jamming his fingernails into his temples.

"Juano!" Mirabel caught him in his arms. Her tia and tio fell beside her, Isandra kept the children back so they wouldn't be shocked. A powerful seizure overtook him.

Inside the house, the cracks were spreading violently. The candle turned three-quarters pitch black and the flame turned to a ghastly green.

"Stay with me! Stay with me!" Mirabel begged, trying to keep him calm. Bruno and his wife struggled to hold him down.

"It must be the candle," Gabriella estimated out loud. "His magic is reacting with it. It must be what's causing this,"

"Just calm down Juano," ushered Bruno.

Just then, they heard a loud surge of energy and they looked up and saw the invisible barrier crumbling down around them. The casita was now invisible to the city again.

In the camp, the worried Madrigals heard violent booming. They turned their heads to see the green clouds brewing darker. It was horrifying. Mothers nearby gathered children in their arms. Fathers tried to calm down their crying infants and urge their wives and families to keep together.

Carlos narrowed his eyes at the horrifying phenomenon that destroyed the beauty of the city, turning it into a dark and unsafe place. Mariana remained emotionless like him. Alejandro, however, felt scared…he kept his anxious features hidden.

Isabella felt her heart jump when she saw a barrier disappear on the high hill and they saw the Casita. "Look!"

The rest of the family looked ahead and they saw the building that resembled their former home. "Oh my…" Luisa drifted off.

"It's like home," said Dolores.

"Wait a minute," spoke up Pepa quickly. "Where's Camillo?"

Julieta and Agustin walked endlessly through the city, trying to find Antonio. They didn't call out his name. They couldn't afford to be spotted or their goose was cooked. They jumped and saw the clouds high above their heads, green. Agustin held his wife close, afraid for her life. Just then the mother cook saw a long path leading upwards towards…

She felt a heartbeat in her chest and feel her joy bubbling up in her chest, she sprinted past the buildings towards the Casita where she knew her beloved youngest daughter had been living for years, her frantic, hard-to-keep-up husband behind her.

As the barrier disappeared, the seizure tormenting Juano stopped and he breathed in and out, tears leaking from his eyes.

Mirabel, elated but suffering a mental heart attack, cupped his cheeks and kissed his head. Gabriella held his hand to sooth his lingering pain. "It's all right. It's It's okay. You're okay,"

"I felt it," he sniffled. "I felt the candle…I felt dark magic,"

"The darker the magic becomes, the weaker he feels," Gabriella reckoned, frightenedly.

"We must get him somewhere to rest," said Bruno urgently. "We must evacuate the city before something even worse happens,"

"We go to the cave now," decided Mirabel. She looked desperately down at Juano. "You can't come with me. It's too dangerous,"

Juano wouldn't allow it. "No," he croaked.

"If this happened to you again, I'd never forgive myself; I'm not gonna lose you,"

Suddenly they heard loud voices. They turned their heads to see Julieta and Agustin rushing up to them, Balthasar behind them. "Stop right there!" the florist shouted.

The parents finally reached the top. They stopped running. Tears filled their eyes when they saw Mirabel and Bruno and Gabriella and everyone else. When they saw the state Juano was in, they became scared. Turning pale again, Mirabel struggled to squeeze a word from her throat. She didn't know what to do. Her parents wanted to come forward but her scared face made them freeze in their shoes.

"Tia! Tio!" Antonio rushed to them, hugging them.

"Thank goodness you're safe," breathed Agustin in relief.

"I'm sorry I ran away. I just couldn't bear to be away from a single second,"

"That doesn't matter. What's important is you're safe," breathed Julieta in relief. "We thought something terrible had happened when those clouds were booming," she looked again at her daughter, stumbling towards her. Her heart broke when she saw the quivering Mirabel cradling her ill boyfriend in her arms.

Before she could ask, Balthasar came forward. "Is he all right?"

Seeing how his niece was too paralysed to speak, Bruno stood up. "He's very weak. As the magic grows darker, he grows weaker. We must evacuate the city,"

"I'll spread the message," he acknowledged.

"I'll come and help you," Isandra volunteered. She turned her head to Mirabel. "Don't lose this moment," she urged; she knew that she needed to talk to her parents now.

Still, she remained petrified, and Gabriella knelt beside her. "It'll be okay," she promised. "We'll take care of everything,"

"Please," Juano implored weakly. "Do it for me?"

"Please," begged Antonio, sniffling tears. He knelt before them, expressing to his prima the biggest wet eyes she had ever seen.

She looked back down at her love and then back at her heartbroken parents; she realised she couldn't break their hearts anymore by staying away from them. They needed her. She looked again at Antonio and nodded.

"I'll take him somewhere to rest," Bruno gently, hooped Juano's arm around his neck and he and Mirabel gently helped him up. Gabriella took her place and they hoisted Juano off his feet to carry him. Isandra and Balthasar would gently escort the children away. Isandra gave Mirabel a warm hug, promising her that everything would be okay. As Bruno passed his sister, Julieta gently clasped his shoulder and they looked at each other, love in their eyes.

"Thank you," Julieta was deeply in debt to her brother for taking care of her daughter all these years. She glanced at Gabriella, then looked at their three ids. "I am so happy for you both. And I'm so sorry…" she apologised deeply. "That I wasn't strong enough to support you two,"

"Who's this papa?" asked Harmony curiously.

Bruno looked lovingly at his sister and husband. "This is your tia, Julieta and tio Agustin,"

The children jumped for joy, wanting to meet them.

"Are you Mirabel's parents?" asked Harmony curiously.

"They are," Mirabel answered proudly. The parents were touched. She had thought of them for years; she hadn't forgotten them.

The family carried Juano and escorted the children away leaving Mirabel with her parents. No longer able to hold back, she flew right towards them and they opened their arms, engulfing her with love and warmth and joy. They fell to their knees and Mirabel leaked out tears of joy at being reunited with her beloved parents whom she had missed for years. She had questioned whether this passionate moment would come. And now that dream had turned into a genuine moment which she wanted to last forever. "I've missed you so much," she mourned.

"We've never stopped thinking about you," sniffled Agustin. "Not for a single moment,"

"I'm so sorry," she cried. "I'm so sorry,". Her heart was twisting itself into a heap of knots, tormenting her with guilt and shame.

Bruno and Gabriella carried Juano to Elonzo's house. He was just leaving his house when he saw the weakened state he was in. "Oh my gosh. Bring him in," they brought him in and settled him on a long seat. "Is he all right?"

"It's the curse," said Bruno. "We think his magic is reacting negatively with it and it's causing him to go into seizures,"

"If we don't fix this soon…" Gabriella drifted off; she didn't need to say another word. "It's not safe. We need to evacuate the city,"

Elonzo wanted to argue but he knew they were right. "We still have a chance to fix this,"

"We do. Mirabel wants to go into that cave as soon as possible. But first, we must spread the message to everyone," said Juano seriously, mastering what vocal strength he could master, though he remained weakened from exhaustion.

"You stay here and rest," Bruno soothed, sitting beside him, rubbing a cold damp cloth over his head. "Replenish your strength,"

"I'll stay here and watch over him," said Gabriella. "You two go and help Isandra and Balthasar," Bruno sighed, thinking about their kids with them. She clasped his shoulder. "The kids will understand. It's better, to tell the truth, than pretend everything will be all right," They didn't want to make that mistake but with the twins, they were gonna make it sound less scary than it was.

The two men departed through the door and Gabriella kept treating Juano. As she did, he started crying. "You're gonna get through this,"

"It's not that," he lamented.

"Then what is it?"

"Seeing Mirabel with her parents…I want that more than anything," for years since disowning his father, he wished more than anything that his mother was alive so he could feel deep maternal love. He had also wondered what life would have been like if his father and siblings were kind and good and not hateful and spiteful.

"You still have a family. And we're gonna keep you safe," she promised. "That monster is not going to cause trouble,"

Mirabel took her parents to a beautiful spot in the gardens, a good distance away from the casita. They sat down together. "There's so much I have to tell you," she said to them.

"You have no idea how proud we are of you," said Agustin. "We've all seen how much you've done for these people. You gave them all homes and happiness,"

"How was life? After I left?" she asked next.

Julieta sighed and shared a heartfelt face with her husband. "Life wasn't the same again. I had to lead the village. We all estranged ourselves…from Abeula," Mirabel pursed her lips thinking of her. "We were all really mad at her…for driving you and Bruno away. How old are the kids now?"

Mirabel beamed a little. "Pedro's ten. And Harmony and Angelo turned five last week. They all received gifts from the candle and they enjoy them so much. How was the casita we left behind?"

"It looked just like the old one,"

"I'm sorry it wasn't magical. But we hoped it was enough," Mirabel wiped a tear away. "I'm so...so sorry for all the pain I've caused. I just…I…I couldn't stay there anymore. Nobody wanted me anymore,"

"We did," said Agustin. Julieta elbowed him. "What?" she glared. "Oh," But Mirabel had heard. It crushed her heart more. Her father hugged her. "But it's okay sweetheart. It's not your fault. Those people…"

"Were right to reject me,"

"No. They weren't," Julieta shook her head. "They drove you away, all of you away, even the Lopez family and Abeula. I can't believe she said all those things. And I've been ashamed of her for years,"

"How's everyone else?" Mirabel had wondered what they had been up to since their unexpected arrival.

"They'll well. They've settled in the village. They've all missed you a lot,"

Mirabel was touched. "Really?"

"Yes. They all know they've made mistakes…and when we all read your letter…they were all moved. They've all been ashamed of their mistakes but that doesn't mean that they didn't you or Bruno,"

"What about the Lopez family?" Mirabel asked curiously. "Do they know about Gabriella and Isandra?" They nodded. "We can't let them destroy their happiness here,"

"They won't,"

"You should have been there at the wedding," she sniffled wiping tears of joy away. "Everyone was so happy. We really wished you had all been there. Isandra and I were the bridesmaids and Juano was the best man,"

"I take it Pedro was the ring boy?" joked Agustin.

Mirabel nodded. "He sure was. I can't believe he's grown up so quickly. Sometimes it feels like only yesterday l met him within the walls of the casita in a little room, all alone. I'm really glad you guys came here," she had wanted to say that for a while.

"We understand how much you're needed here," said Julieta respectfully. "We were hoping once we found him you'd come back with us…but we won't take you away from the life you've built here," The way she spoke, Mirabel sniffled. Her parents truly were proud of her.

"I got a gift," she spoke suddenly.

Her parents became intrigued. She opened her palm and butterflies emerged in flashes of gold.

"Beautiful," she said.

"You already were special. Special to us. Even without a gift," said Agustin. "You're special because of everything you've built here," as they gazed around, their hearts trembled at the curse brewing over the state.

"I can't let anything happen to this place, to our home," Mirabel stood up, gazing down at everything they had turned from a lonely valley into a populated residence. "We failed to save the miracle before. We will not fail this time. If we do, I'll never forgive myself," she looked at her parents again. "We have to tell the refugees to evacuate. The curse will get worse if we don't do something soon. I don't know yet how we're going to save it but we cannot risk putting anyone in danger,"

Isandra and Balthasar were walking through the streets, telling everyone the dreaded news. Whilst Pedro kept his siblings at bay by playing with them; the parents were saddened but they desired their children's protection. After leaving the children with Balthasar's parents, they started walking around town.

As they did, Balthasar noticed that Isandra looked unsettled. "Are you okay?"

"Not really," she was beginning to cry.

"Hey. Hey. It's okay," he pulled her into a hug.

"How am I supposed to face my parents? How would I even talk to them? To them, l just abandoned them for my best friend. They'll think the same of Gabriella,"

"You've done nothing wrong. They were horrible to Mirabel for no reason. And they would have tried to destroy your tia and tio's happiness together. You were there for Mirabel when no one else was before Juano came along into your lives. That's what you should be really proud of you," he let go and as he wiped her tears away. "You're too good to feel this bad about yourself. You have a good heart, better than anyone else I've ever met,"

She found herself smiling at his words. They both blushed.

"Isandra?" It was the voice of someone she hadn't seen for years.

She turned her head and saw Camilo standing there, flabbergasted in his poncho. "Camilo?"

Balthasar turned his head and was shocked to see another Madrigal. "Who's this?"

"Who's he?" Camilo pointed at him.

He riled up. "What do you mean 'Who's he'?" He had never felt more aggravated to hear someone speak like that.

"What are you doing here?" demanded Isandra gently. "You're supposed to be in the camp,"

"I really wanted to talk to you," said Camilo. He felt extremely uncomfortable with Balthasar in their presence; he felt a tingle of envy snaking up his spine. "Some privacy please?" he requested.

"Absolutely not," Balthasar would not leave Isandra for one moment. He glared coldly at Camilo. "Unless you want to get into big trouble, I suggest you return to your camp,"

The former shape-shifter turned red. "How dare you speak to me like this,"

"You wanna go?" Balthasar challenged.

Impulsively Camilo marched up to him but Isandra pushed him away. "Camilo. Don't," she warned. Realising that he had acted rashly in front of her, he attempted to apologise only to be cut off with: "Please. Just go,"

"I'm sorry," he felt ashamed. "But I've missed you Isandra. A lot," She felt her heart quiver hearing him say those words. As she did, she noticed something he was wearing a scarf just hidden under the folds of his poncho. Strips of gold and white flashing. She had made it for him years ago. He turned his back and left the scene.

"Man. I've never met someone so rude like him," vented the florist angrily. He paused in his stern breathing when he noticed something was wrong with her. "You okay?"

"I need to go," she jogged off into the streets, leaving her confused friend behind.

That's another chapter done. What did you all think? I hope you all loved it. Please send reviews and let me know what you all thought. See you all soon