Mirabel was absolute amazed by the avatars, but Grace told her that there was more to learn than just that. Since the scientist knew that she came to the ship since she was five, her learnings were only in the kindergarten way. But that Mirabel is nine and soon to be ten, it was time for her to learn about the science and the history of Pandora. Plus, the technicians.
The young girl has been paying attention to her new mother and other scientists but to their surprise, Mirabel was quite a fast learner. Learning the technology and their avatars. She even studied about Pandora and the scientists have gone over to test on what she learned.
Grace smiled at her pupil but as weeks and a couple of months have passed, she now raised Mirabel as not only a student but also a daughter. Mirabel didn't seem to mind as she called Grace "mom" but not in Spanish. For Mirabel traveling to here, she has forgotten what language she spoke of but only remembered some words from her memory in her childhood.
She has learned about Mirabel's past, but she learned more about her grandmother's past, the miracle, and a magic house that grants powers to her family at age of five. Grace thought that magic wasn't real but learning so much at Pandora was mysterious and magic to her, so she decided on believing her.
It was the month of July, Mirabel was already ten years old. Grace and the scientists have given her a small party which Mirabel didn't mind but enjoyed the time of cake and chatting with everyone. One day in her room, the young girl was on her bed going through her book of Na'vi language until she heard the her door automatically opened and saw Grace along with some other scientists bringing some tech.
"Mom? What's all this?" Mirabel questioned as she raised her brow.
"I thought that since you've learned how to use technology and stuff, I thought you could do some video logs about what you learned."
"Like the ones you did?"
"Yep. But the first log I think you should do is talk about yourself. About your past and how you ended up here in Pandora."
Mirabel closed her book as she looked at the video camera.
"So, the video logs are like diaries but different, right?" she asked.
"Yep." Grace answered as she handed her a note. "They're instructions on how to do them and be quick about it and pack up. We're going somewhere."
"To where?"
"To Site 26. It's a camp at the Hallelujah Mountains."
"The what?" Mirabel questioned but saw Grace and the others leave already without an answer.
The young girl sighed and looked at the electronics. Beside her computer was a small device that only showed the holographic images of Pandora, Na'vi, and Avatar. She took a deep breath and then starts setting up the camera attached to the computer. Once she had those things ready, she took another deep breath and then started to speak.
"Okay. Here it goes." she said and starts turning her camera on.
Somewhere back on Earth, in Columbia, South America, lived a sacred hidden town called Encanto. The town looks so cheerful and happy and also full of peace, but in a big house that moves by itself, lives the amazing Madrigal family.
The Madrigals were as busy as ever as they, as well as their magical house Casita, were setting everything up for today. Being as it was a special day.
"Nieta, we need more flowers. Pinks and lilacs." said Alma as she was speaking to her oldest granddaughter, Isabela.
"Si, Abuela."
"Coming through!" Luisa spoke as she was passing by, carrying a table above her.
"Julieta, is the food all prepared?" Alma asked.
"Don't worry Mama. The food is all set."
"Good." she said until she noticed the weather changed, "Pepa, you have a cloud!"
"I know, Mama! I'm trying to calm Tonito down!" she said as she carried a crying baby in her arms.
"Relax Mi Amour, remember; deep breaths." Felix spoke as he was comforting his wife.
Pepa nodding taking deep breaths and gently rocking Antonio in her arms to calm him down.
Finally, the weather went back to sunny, and Alma smiled until she walked past a certain door that says 'Rosa' with a picture of a girl with her gift. Alma looked at the door with a tiny smile. Knowing today had to be perfect like any other day for the Madrigals.
Inside the room, the girl who is known as Rosa was sitting on her bed, looked two pictures in her hands. One was her and her papa: Bruno, and the other... was her and her cousin.
"Why did you two leave? ...Every day I miss you both. Did you not love us? Did you not love me?..." she questioned softly to herself and then looked at the photo of her cousin, "Mirabel...Prima, I'm sorry to whatever happened to you back then." she said and as she looked at the photo of her father, tears in her eyes starts threating to be shed, "Papi..."
Just then she hears a knock, making Rosa look up. She wiped her tears away and hid her pictures under her pillow.
"C-Come in." she spoke and then saw the door opened.
It was her cousin, Camilo, as he came in with a smile on his face.
"Hey prima. Happy Birthday." he said as he sat down the bed beside her.
"Thanks, Camilo." she spoke quietly.
"Are you okay? Your cheeks are a little red?"
"I'm fine. Really, I am."
"You sure? Cause you know that if something is troubling you. You have all of us to talk to, Tia Julieta is always there for you."
"Thank you, Camilo. But I'm fine, really."
Camilo just looked at his young cousin until he smirked as he thought of an idea.
"Come on. I know what will cheer you up."
Rosa looks at him with a raised brow to see Camilo using his shapeshifting gift. He starts shifting into Isabela as he was posing and smiling.
"Look at me, the flower of Abuela's eyes." he spoke as he bats the eyes and doing a graceful pose.
Rosa just stared at him, but a tiny smile appears on her face until she Camilo turns into Dolores.
" I'm Dolores, I have extreme hearing and I can't help it if I stick my nose in other people's businesses because of my gift."
Rosa smiled and chuckled a little bit until her cousin shapeshift into Felix.
"Camilo how many times must I tell you. 'Stop imitating the family for you own amusement'!" he said but as he turned around something stopped his entertainment.
He saw his father, the real Felix, at the doorway and not looking too pleased.
"Uh... Hi, papa." Camilo spoke as he turns back into his normal self.
"Hola, Tio." Rosa spoke softly as she waved her hand a little.
Felix sighs as he shook his head and then smiled.
"I came up to check if you gotten Rosa ready."
"I am checking, just trying to cheer her up on her big day." Camilo replied.
Felix looked at him and then looked at his niece.
"Rosa?"
"I'll be ready in a moment Tio Felix." said Rosa.
"One minute, Okay? Now vamo, vamo, vamo."
"Now vamo, vamo, vamo." Camilo repeated as he imitates as him until Felix grabbed him, "Okay, I'm done."
Rosa giggled as the two already left the room. She then turns back and pulls the two pictures out from under her pillow. She went back to staring and gave a sad sigh.
"I wish you two can be here to celebrate with me." she spoke softly to herself.
The young girl kept on staring at the pictures of her cousin and papa. Until her thoughts were interrupted by the floorboards moving about. It was Casita signifying she should get going.
"Okay Casita, I'm going." she said.
She placed her photos back under her pillow and walked towards her door. She took a look at all her dream catchers in her room and then straightened herself as she took a deep breath.
"Here we go." she reassured herself and starts leaving her room.
Rosa began walking out of her room, she heard music playing and people chatting with one another. She began to feel a little nervous, though she shouldn't be on this special day of hers. She froze when everyone turned to her.
"And here is our little Dreamer." Alma announced as she came to her.
"Feliz Cumpleaños Rosa!"
"Thank you." she spoke softly and waves to them.
"Now come! We are all here to celebrate another birthday of Rosa Madrigal." said Alma as she takes her granddaughter's shoulder leading them to the crowd, "I remember back 4 years ago to this day, feels like yesterday when the Magic Candle blessed Rosa with her gift."
Rosa blushed a bit a tad embarrassed but began to feel more nervous around the crowd. If she had her cousin Dolores's hearing gift, she could just hear people whispering, "What's her gift again?" "Something had to do with dreams?" "Out of the Madrigals, I never seen her use her gift" hearing these whispers Rosa began to feel more nervous and a tad scared.
"And now here we are to celebrate her 9th birthday." said Alma.
Julieta came to Rosa as she gave her niece a hug and a kiss on the cheek.
"Feliz Cumpleaños, cariña." she said to her.
"Gracias, Tia." Rosa spoke as she smiled to her.
"You will be fine. We'll be here."
"And remember to smile." Agustine, Julieta's husband, said to her.
Rosa did as her uncle told her and smiled a little.
The dreamer watched as the party began. She watched the guests chatting and dancing, even saw Camilo taking some extra food from the table. She did smile of the enjoyment but inside of her, she wished that her father and cousin were here. Suddenly, she felt something being placed on her head. Looking up to see a flower crown placed on her head.
"Thought you might want something special to have in your hair for this day." Isabela spoke as she was the one who created the crown.
"Thanks Isabela." Rosa spoke quietly but not looking up at her.
She just stood still as her oldest cousin stood with her. It was hard to say anything to the golden child of the Madrigals.
"Great party, right?" the oldest asked.
"Yes, it is. But...don't you wish it could be well... what if..."
"If what?" Camilo appeared as he stood beside his cousin.
"If... if... what if certain people we don't talk about were here!"
Isabela and Camila looked at her in shock.
"Rosa, we talked about this. Especially what Abuela said." said oldest cousin said in a stern voice.
"It was just a thought-"
"End of discussion. Let's not talk about this anymore. Not today for you." said Isabela and then walked away.
Rosa watched her cousin walking off feeling guilty what she said.
"Maybe I should go back to my room."
"Hold on, Rosa. Don't let Isa get to you." said Camilo as he stopped her from walking off.
"She is right though; we shouldn't discuss it." said Rosa as she let go of Camilo's grasp.
Rosa starts climbing up the stairs to her room but as she looked at the door, something strange happened. The door was glowing bright, but it wasn't just the door, it was room which everyone in Casita noticed.
"What is happening? What's going on?" the villagers questioned.
"Everyone remain calm." Alma spoke to them.
Without hesitation, Rosa quickly reached to her door and opened it. Her eyes squinted from the brightness of light but when inside to see what was going on. As the light slowly to dim down a bit, Rosa became surprised at what she saw.
The Madrigal family all went inside her as they saw what they are see. A large mirror with a silver frame was hanging up at the side of Rosa's room.
"I... don't remember having this mirror here." said Rosa as she looked at it.
"How very peculiar…" said Alma as she looked at the mirror.
"What does this mean Mama?" Pepa asked.
"I don't know."
Rosa got closer to the mirror. Curious as to know why it was here but as she touched the silver frame, the mirror glowed again, and Rosa move back away with her family.
The family watched as it glowed again until something appeared in there. They saw a girl with long curled locks, brown eyes, and wore glasses with black frames. Julieta's eyes grew wide with horror as the girl somehow looked familiar to her.
"Is that...?"
"... Mirabel?" Rosa spoke as she looked at the girl.
"But... It can't be..." said Pepa until they all heard the girl speak.
"This is Mirabel Augustine and this video log is... well my first which I'm suppose to talk about myself and research but for this video... this is something about my past. My former surname was known as Madrigal."
"It is her!" Rosa exclaimed.
"... Mirabel!" Julieta sobbed as tears went streaming down her face.
Agustin took Julieta in his arms to hold her up, he too with tears in his eyes. Both Luisa and Isabela were shocked, and both stood silent.
"From where I'm from... I was from a very secret, hidden town, safe from the mercenaries that attack my grandmother's village a long time ago and my grandfather was gone. Somehow a miracle was born, and the people called it Encanto for it was magic. My family... the Madrigals, have special gifts that protects the village. Most of my family: my mama, aunt, uncle, sisters, and cousins received it at the age of five... but I didn't. I didn't received a gift and my uncle somehow disappeared. After the failed ceremony, my family kicked me out of the house."
No one could utter a word. All were still silent as they watched. Rosa just continued to look at the mirror of her cousin as she continues.
"No one in the village took me in. I even prayed for a miracle or wished to be special. Suddenly... a gold butterfly appeared to me and I followed it. It somehow got me through the mountains and no wild animal came to me. The next day, it lead me to a town. I don't know why but somehow it wants me to go there, so I did. Once I went passed from house to house, building to building, I saw something big. A ship made of metal which looked like a rocket ship. I don't know what it was doing there until a crowd of people accidently somehow pushed me into the ship with them and the door was closed. Then I met a new friend, Carlos. He was a soldier and tried to get me out of there, but the latch was sealed. It won't open until the ship reaches to the one planet that I've never heard of... Pandora."
"...Pandora?" Rosa spoke in confusion.
"Did she say 'planet'?" Luisa questioned.
"And for five years of traveling we made it to Pandora. I was nine almost to ten. But during the travels, we were in cyrosleep. It's something like in the story "La Bella Durmiente". People didn't age in cyrosleep but I did. The doctors somehow add something for me to age because I was only a child. Once we reached Pandora, Carlos and I came to base to meet a friend of his. But we wore oxygen masks for us to breath because Pandora doesn't have the kind of air like in Earth."
"Five years?!" Julieta exclaimed.
"What did she say about the planet not having the kind of air we breathe?" Agustin questioned.
"Then I met Carlos's friend: Grace Augustine. My adopted mom. She agreed to take me under her wing even as a scientist she still has work. Carlos has to go back to the ship on account if any more people want to go or... maybe more soldiers. Once he left, Grace showed me something that had my mind with amazement."
The Madrigal family watched as Mirabel picked up a device and showed an image of a Na'vi person.
"The Na'vi."
The Madrigals were speechless. Never had they seen such a creature before in all their lives.
"What the-"
"Shush!" Felix silenced his son as he elbowed him to keep his mouth shut.
"Of course, I never actually seen a Na'vi, but I what do saw were the avatars that look like them. From what I learned, the people have their link beds for them to go in and connect their avatar by their consciousness and mostly they can breath the air outside. From the moment I saw them... all the questions in my mind that somehow... drained away. Makes me think that maybe the butterfly did lead me to the village, to the ship, to here for a reason. And so, I asked my mom if she can teach me about Pandora, the Na'vi, and the avatars."
Rosa stood still in shock and fascination of her cousin's log. She can somehow feel her family behind her feeling a tiny bit the same way she was feeling.
"And so, for a couple of months, mom and the scientist who have been good friends to me, have taught me everything they learned about Pandora. Well... not everything because there is so much to learn about it. Mom was teaching me the language of Na'vi that the People speak in this planet. I somehow gotten fascinated and use to it but to the language where I was from... I have forgotten about it and know some words that I remembered from the golden childhood before... the ceremony."
Just hearing that she's learning new language intrigued the Madrigals, but to hear that she forgotten her native language felt a painful tug on the families hearts. Suddenly, they heard the sound of a door opened and it wasn't coming from Rosa's door, it was coming from the mirror.
"Mirabel, hurry up. We need to get going."
"Right, I'm coming." she spoke and heard the door closed, "That was my mom, she's taking me to Site 26, which is her camp at the Hallelujah Mountains. I don't know what they are called but keep in touch once I see them. This Mirabel signing off." she said as she was about to turn the camera off until she stopped for a moment. "Oh... and Rosa... Happy Birthday, prima."
"Mirabel…." Rosa spoke softly but watches as Mirabel signed off and video log ended, "Wait prima come back! Mirabel!"
The family watched as Rosa was near the mirror, crying and sobbing. Camilo quickly came to her and hugged his little prima.
"After all this time...all this time..." Julieta couldn't bear finish her sentence, turning into her husband's arms and cried.
"It's no wonder why we couldn't find her in this town." said Pepa.
"But I... I don't... Why would the butterfly lead her to go there?"
"That's what I'm trying to find out." a voice spoke at the entrance of the room.
Everyone turned to the voice and all gaped with shocked looks. Rosa looked up hearing that familiar voice. She couldn't believe her own eyes to who she saw. A thin man in his mid forties wearing a green ruana with a hood, and his hair curly black hair mixed with gray streaks.
"Papí…?" Rosa whispered for the man was indeed her father.
"Rosa…."
Both father and daughter stared at eachother, not a word was spoke and not a move was made.
"Rosa…I know this it's a lot to take but I can explain why I..."
"PAPÍ!" Rosa cried as she ran to her papa and wraps her arms around him for a hug.
Bruno was shocked by his daughter's hug, but he bent down to her level and hugged her back tightly. Rosa crying in his arms. He began to shush calmly to his daughter, stroking her hair and said those soothing words that always calms her down as long as he can remember.
"Now now….Papí's here….Papí's here…." he shushed her in a soothing voice to calm her down.
Hearing those words helped Rosa a bit but she still kept crying.
Alma looked at her only son with face looked stunned and her mouth was dropped open.
"Brunito? Is that really you?" she spoked softly.
Bruno froze, looking up to see Alma but still having his arms around his daughter.
"Hi Mama…. Everyone." he spoke and chuckled nervously.
"I thought... I thought you were gone. You left the Encanto." said Pepa
"About that..." he nervously chuckled again.
Dolores who had been silent the whole time finally burst, "Tío Bruno never left! He's been here the whole time hiding!" she blurted but realized what she said, she squeaked and covered her mouth.
"What? Hiding? Hiding where?" Julieta asked as she looked at her niece and then her brother.
"Was kinda taking residence in the…walls sorta speak." he answered until he began to feel more nervous to see his family looking at him in disbelief.
Rosa feeling her papa being scared and nervous, hugged him again for reassurance.
"You been hiding in the walls?!" Pepa shouted a cloud began to thundered around her.
"Now Pepa! Pepa Mi Amour!" Felix tries to calm his wife down and unaware that her thunder had woke baby Antonio.
Bruno feeling ashamed and seeing his sister's reaction from her gift said a lot. He couldn't bare to look and stared down feeling ashamed.
"Papí... why did you hide in the walls?" Rosa asked softly.
"I hid because I didn't have the heart to leave this family….I love my family" he answered as he place his hand on his daughter's cheek, "...but to do what I did…it was for Mirabel."
"What do you mean?"
Bruno sighed and looked up to face his family but mostly at his mother.
"After Mirabel didn't get a gift, you asked me for a vision to see what is wrong with the magic? And so, I did." he explained and looked at the family, "I looked to the future and saw Mirabel in front of Casita with cracks. I fear how bad it will turn out because everyone saw the worst in me as 'Bad Luck Bruno'. So, I didn't show the vision and hid in the walls. I only did to protect her but somehow it didn't turn out alright, after you kicked her out."
"What I did was for the sake of this family!" said Alma.
"It wasn't for the family! You feared for the Miracle dying out all due to Mirabel not receiving a Miracle of her own!" Bruno snapped.
The family looked stunned to hear his outburst, but the seer sighed and took a deep breath.
"Since I heard that Mirabel wasn't in town, I had the gut to go back to my room and do another vision while you all were asleep and somehow her future changed."
Bruno brought out a green tablet that was with him and handed the vision to Julieta.
The family gathered around to see the tablet and saw Mirabel with her long hair like in the mirror but behind was a very tall creature behind that has Mirabel's face but a different structure.
"It's Mirabel…she looks like those creatures." said Julieta.
Isabela looked shock, disbelief, and somewhat tiny relieved.
"What did she say those creatures were called? Na…" Isabela tried to pronounce.
"Na'vi." Bruno corrected.
"Personally, she looks good in blue and a tail." said Camilo until Felix slaps him upside the head, "Ow! What I'm just telling like it is!"
Rosa looked at the tablet as she was focusing on seeing the Na'vi version of Mirabel and smiled.
"I think she looks beautiful."
Bruno smiled at his daughter's comment. He turned as he noticed the baby in Pepa's arms. Baby Antonio looked at the green tablet with wonder. Even though he was just a baby, no more than 2 months, and he doesn't understand what was going on around him. He just somehow knew by look of the tablet of the girl creature, he just seemed to like her.
"You think she's pretty too, huh Antonio?" Rosa asked and the baby smiled and gave a cute coo.
Rosa smiled but then looked at the mirror as she smile turned to a sad look. She got near it and placed her hand on the silver frame until she felt her father's hand on her shoulder.
"You think... we might see her again?" she asked as she looked at her.
"I don't know. I've been trying so desperately to leave and search for her, but I just couldn't. Mirabel's long gone I'm afraid. And for what she had said, she had been asleep for 5 years to get to wherever this Pandora is. But I'm afraid it's impossible to get to as well for what I've seen….Pandora is somewhere…up out there." said Bruno as he pointed up to the sky out of her window.
"Up out there…." Rosa repeated as she looked at the sky.
"Mirabel did say 'keep in touch', so we might get to see her again from the mirror and know more about Pandora." said Luisa.
"What if the mirror doesn't show us? What if it was a one time thing? What if it takes more years to find out more about her? It's just not the same without her actually here!"
Bruno wrapped his arms around his daughter trying to calm her down.
"We just have to wait and see." he said to her.
Rosa wrapping her arms around her father and was buried deep in the hug.
"Papí…will you stay?" she asked.
Bruno stared at his daughter, unsure on what to answer. Looking back up he saw his family, unaware what to say or do now.
"Please….I don't want to be alone anymore."
The seer looks at his daughter as the tears coming down her face. He hugged her again and spoke in a soft tone.
"For you mija, I'll stay."
To Be Continued...
A/N: I want to thank my friend: KaitBcutie6 for helping me out on this chapter. Rosa Madrigal is her oc, who is Bruno's daughter (the mother passed away in childbirth), and her gift is to look into people's dreams and can interpret them.