Disclaimers: As much as I may want to claim ownership of these two productions, I can't because Encanto (2021) belong to a whole lot of different companies that I can't remember the names of at the moment. Any characters that appear in this fic that are not a part of either original series, belong to me so don't take them without asking first.

Timeframe: This story is going to take place in the Encanto (2021) universe. I'm also making it so that the Madrigal family starting from Alma Madrigal going down the family list, is born in the mid-1930's instead of the original earlier time period that the series starts off in with Pedro and Alma, so that by the time Mirabel is born, she is born in the year 1990.

I am also making Julieta, Pepa, and their spouses (and Bruno) five years younger than what they were when they married and had the grandkids, so they are not in their fifties by the time Antonio is five years old.

Author's Notes: Because of the 'Wish Reboot' back to the night before her Gift ceremony, Mirabel's magic bedroom door remains and she receives a Gift this time around, as well as gained the power to become the next Candle Bearer when Alma eventually dies.

Warning: Because of their memories of their experience in the other timeline, both Mirabel and Bruno will stubbornly be completely different than what they were in canon, as they do things they didn't do in the original timeline, like being more stubborn and confident about things and not backing down and standing up more against Alma instead of quietly letting her treat them the way she did in the old timeline as one of the things they are trying to change for the better.

Years and Birthdays of Characters with info coming from Encanto (2021) Wiki:

-Alma Madrigal née Ramirez - Birthday: February 6, 1935
-Félix Madrigal née Hernandez - Birthday: November 11, 1959
-Agustin Madrigal née Santos - Birthday: June 19, 1960
-Julieta Madrigal - Birthday: October 17, 1960
-Pepa Madrigal - Birthday: October 17, 1960
-Bruno Madrigal - Birthday: October 17, 1960
-Mariano Guzmán - Birthday: March 19, 1982
-Isabela Madrigal - Birthday: August 7, 1983
-Dolores Madrigal - Birthday: September 5, 1983
-Luisa Madrigal - Birthday: April 12, 1985
-Camilo Madrigal - Birthday: April 21, 1990
-Mirabel Madrigal - Birthday: May 6, 1990
-Antonio Madrigal - Birthday: July 23, 2000

Word Count: 10,735

Summary: (Encanto) In the distant future where Casita falls, Mirabel and Bruno both die trying to save the miracle candle. But thanks to the last of the magic of the Miracle candle and a wish that Mirabel makes just as she takes her final breath, instead of staying dead Mirabel and Bruno both suddenly find themselves 'waking up' years in the past inside of their younger bodies the night before Mirabel's Gift ceremony with all of their memories of the possible future still intact. In an attempt to stop the events that happened in the original future, can Mirabel and Bruno save their family and make a better tomorrow for everybody? (Papa Bruno Madrigal AU)

Glossary:
'Hi' – thinking
"Hi" – Another language

Knocking Down Hesitation
Chapter 1: Family Losses
By: Sakura Lisel
======================================

~-Encanto Village, Columbia - Outside the Ruins of Casita – July 31, 2005~-

Meanwhile high above the rubble that once was the living magical house known as Casita, the rest of the Madrigal clan were rushing around searching the area they had last seen Mirabel in just before Bruno's tower bedroom had fallen, as they pushed and pulled broken debris and getting it out of the way with the help of the townspeople who had come running with tools and other things after seeing everything in Encanto fall apart just before Casita fell.

Once word reached the villagers had learned that Mirabel Madrigal was buried underneath the rubble, people from all over Encanto of all ages came to help, as they tried to remove debris as best as they could, as more and more broken pieces of Casita were removed from the area and set off to the side away from everything else.

Meanwhile some of the village children were running around the destruction with Antonio and Camilo, as the two younger Madrigal boys were walking around yelling out Maribel's name and trying to see if they could hear her by pressing their ears against the rubble.

When the full news of what had really happened reached the ears of everybody in the village, everybody had come running to try and help the now powerless family who had always been there to help them no matter what. The whole area was filled with villagers who moved quickly to help move things out of the way as they continued digging and looking for any sign of Mirabel.

Among the people who had come along with the villagers, was the village doctor, Dr. Juan Ricardo who ran a small clinic in the village, who's clinic treated the villagers who couldn't make the trip up to Casita for Julieta's special magical healing food, or treating injuries and ailments that Julieta's food couldn't heal at all and needed actual professional medical help for.

As everybody continued to dig in the rubble for the youngest Madrigal granddaughter, some of the villagers stopped what they were doing when they noticed what looked to be a strange faint white light emanating from underneath the rubble, but the light disappeared as quickly as it had appeared, and decided that it was a figment of their imaginations when it didn't return as they went back to digging in the rubble.

~-Julieta, Agustin, and Dolores's POV~-

"Dolores! Please! Do you hear anything at all?" Julieta cried out, as tears ran down her face as she grabbed up some broken lumber and handed it over to Agustin who was also digging at her side furiously, "please tell me you can hear her, sobrina?!"

Dolores was walking around the rubble with her hands pressed against the sides of her ears as she frantically looked around for any sign of the sound of her youngest cousins voice any other sound from Mirabel anywhere in the area, but she couldn't hear anything at all except the sounds of the villagers and her families frantic voices and nothing else, as she turned her sad gaze on Julieta.

"I'm really sorry, tia Julieta, but my Gift is completely gone as far as I can tell right now. I can't hear anything more than what's going on right now." Dolores said forlornly as she turned away from Julieta so she wouldn't have to see the desperate pain filled agonizing look on her tia's face anymore, "I've been trying really hard all this time to hear her under the rubble, but I can't hear Mirabel anywhere at all."

"Julieta please calm yourself, we will find her hopefully before it's too late. Everything shall be well again once we get her out of there safe and sound," Agustin said as wrapped an arm around Julieta's waist to give her a comforting hug, as he tried to keep himself calm in the face of his wife's panic and despair at the thought of what had just happened to their youngest daughter, "if she's alive, then we can give her your healing food and everything will be right as rain, right? Just like always."

"I know Agustin, it's just that…" Julieta starts to say only for her voice to cut off as a pain filled gasp escaped from her lips, causing Agustin to grab her just as she started to double over in pain.

Julieta let out a startled gasp of shock and pain, as her hands reaches up to clutch at her chest as she started to stumble a bit in surprise as she walked, as her hand reached up to where her heart was, as a sudden sense of pain and loss hit her out of nowhere as she doubled over for a moment and started gasping for breath as it suddenly became harder to breath as her vision became blurry. After a few seconds, the sensation was gone almost as quickly as it had hit her. The sensation was unfamiliar to her, but at the same time it felt like something was missing from inside of her, as Agustin reached out to gently grab and steady her when it looked like she was about to fall over.

"Julieta! Are you alright?! Mi amor, what happened? You suddenly became pale and stumbled and now you look like you are about to pass out any second now," Agustin demanded as he stared at his wife with a worried and confused look on his face as he saw how pale Julieta had suddenly become within a matter of seconds after stumbling, as he steadied her as he helped her over to a nearby rock to sit down and rest for a moment, "Do you want me to go get Doctor Ricardo to come check you over? Can I get you something? A snack, or a glass of water or…"

'What was that? It felt really weird. For a moment I couldn't breathe at all and whatever happened is making my heart and chest hurt.' Julieta thought frantically to herself as she looked around herself in open confusion as if she was trying to find the location of whatever had caused the strange feeling, as a sudden sense of loss and pain filled her, as she ran a shaky hand through her graying black hair nervously, 'It felt like somebody was walking over my grave. What the hell just happened? Why did...'

"TIO BRUNO! Where are you?! We need your help to find Mirabel! You don't have to hide anymore so come on out!"

Just then Julieta's train of thought was rudely interrupted by the sound of Antonio's voice, as the youngest Madrigal boy suddenly stopped calling out Mirabel's name, and was now calling out the name of her missing brother, Bruno, as Julieta immediately turned her gaze towards where Antonio was standing and calling out both Mirabel and Bruno's names, while Camilo stared at his younger brother in wide eyed shock.

'What the heck? Why is Antonio calling for Bruno now of all times? This isn't the time to be talking about Bruno during this latest calamity we are facing. It will only set off Pepa and mama again,' Julieta thought frantically to herself, as she looked around for her mother and sister, and saw them nearby, and she could see from the incredulous looks on their faces as a pang of hurt filled her heart at the thought of her missing younger brother, 'Bruno is gone and he isn't coming back or else he would have been back way before now, so now isn't the time to...'

Just then her train of thought is broken once again, when Antonio's next words caught her attention once again as Antonio started loudly arguing with Camilo, as she felt her body stiffen and freeze up as she heard the next thing Antonio had said.

"...Tio Bruno isn't missing, because I just saw him just a few hours ago hanging out with Mirabel..."

~-Alma, Pepa and Félix's POV~-

Alma Madrigal stood outside the collapsed ruins of what had once been both her home and longtime companion, Casita, who had been by her side through thick and thin for the last fifty years since the night her beloved Pedro had been murdered in cold blood and left her a young widow and single mother to three infant babies.

Alma didn't know how she would have been able to handle things if Casita and the villagers hadn't been there to help her out during her more trying times, but over time she had managed to pull through and raised her children the best she could, now that she was alone without Pedro at her side.

Five years after losing Pedro and the creation of the Encanto, Alma was keeping busy raising her three children on her own with the help of the villagers who were grateful to her family for what happened all of those years ago, and had been the official leader of the still growing village.

It had been a shock to her when Bruno, Julieta, and Pepa's fifth birthday came along and three glowing doors had mysteriously appeared inside of Casita on their birthday. The doors had never been there before yet there they were on the second floor of Casita in what used to be an empty hallway, while the door that led to her own bedroom started glowing as well.

At first, she had tried to open the first three doors herself, only for her hand to pass through them like they weren't even there, but when she went to open her 'new' bedroom door, she was able to firmly grasp it in her hand, as it started to glow brighter as her hand gripped the doorknob, and a picture of herself smiling and holding the miracle candle appeared on the outside part of her bedroom door.

Pulling open the door and walking into it with the triplets right behind her, she had quickly discovered that her bedroom had been expanded and looked better than it had before when she had been in the room earlier that day, and there was now a staircase in a corner of the room that led up to an open tower that overlooked the Encanto, surrounding area.

While Alma had been trying to figure out what was going on with the doors, Bruno had been the first one of the triplets to step forward to try and grab the doorknob of one of the doors before Alma could stop him, and much to her amazement she watched her sons hand managed to firmly grasp the glowing doorknob with no problems.

As everybody watched in shock, as soon as Bruno's hand made contact with the doorknob, the mystery door started to glow brighter with each passing second, before an image began to form on the doorframe, until a picture of Bruno holding what looked like a hourglass appeared on the door, before all of a sudden the door started moving backwards down a newly formed corridor that hadn't been there moments before.

When the family of four walked down the corridor, Bruno reached for the doorknob once again and flung the door wide open, as they stepped into what looked like a cave entrance with a wall of falling sand that was further ahead of them, that led to a spacious cavern that shouldn't have even been there to begin with seeing how small Casita itself was, yet there it was.

There was also a extremely LONG winding staircase that led up to the top of the cavern, where they found what looked like a temple at the top, where carvings of hourglasses decorated the walls, and some kind of ritual room that lit up a bright shade of green as soon as Bruno stepped into it, while off to the corner of the ritual room was another room that had been set up to look like a bedroom inside of it, for Bruno to sleep inside of.

It didn't take long before Pepa and Julieta were both rushing out of Bruno's room and heading towards the remaining unclaimed doors, and like with Bruno's door, images of the two girls appeared on their doors while the inside of the rooms were just as big and amazing as Bruno's rooms had been.

It hadn't taken the family of four to discover the full meaning of their new doors, when the triplets started exhibiting strange and phenomenal powers as time went by.

Bruno had developed the power to see future events, and could manifest glowing green plaques that display what the visions are. At first the power had seemed easy for the young boy to handle but over the years he started developing problems with it, as some of his visions were directed more to being bad omens than good ones, and had left Bruno an outcast among the villagers because of it, even though people still came to him for vision requests.

Pepa's power was discovered almost immediately when she lost her temper at some local village boys who were picking on Bruno, and she accidentally summoned her first thunder storm which chased the bullies across the village, and had lasted for over two hours until Pepa had finally calmed down. Ever since that day Pepa had to keep control of her emotions in order to prevent something worse from happening.

While her eldest daughter, Julieta, had developed healing powers even though it's effects only appeared in whatever type of food she cooks. At first they hadn't been able to tell exactly what kind of power she had possessed because of how her door had been designed, but her healing powers was quickly soon discovered when Julieta had been helping Alma in the kitchen one day, and Julieta had just removed a tray of fresh pastries that she had made all by herself from the oven, when Bruno came into the kitchen crying with a freshly cut hand.

While Alma had been treating Bruno's hand, Julieta had offered her brother one of the pastries she had made, in an attempt to make him calm down, which Bruno had eagerly taken and ate. Within seconds of him consuming the pastry, the trio watched in shock as Bruno's injury instantly healed before their eyes.

Over the following years since then, the Madrigal family of four became well known throughout the village for their special Gifts as everyone began to call the triplets unique abilities, as they used their powers to help out around the village as they grew older.

Alma had been proud when Julieta found love with Agustin Santos and Pepa fell in love with a charming young man named Félix Hernandez, who the two sisters married within months of each other's weddings, with Félix and Agustin taking up the Madrigal family name as their own names, instead of Pepa and Julieta taking their family names.

Bruno himself had somebody he had been seeing, and things had been looking like it was getting serious between the two, but then after the incident with Pepa's wedding day, the two of them had broken up and gone their separate ways, and Bruno had never found anyone else to get together with before his disappearance ten years ago.

Alma Madrigal was listlessly wondering around the fallen debris of what used to be her former living magical house known as Casita, eyes staring blankly at her surroundings as she watched everybody else do the search for her granddaughter Mirabel who was buried somewhere under the debris, as the sound of everybody calling Mirabel's name echoed within her ears, as Alma thought about everything that had happened to lead up to this exact moment.

'How in the world could something like this have this have happened?! After everything I had tried to do for the last ten years to try and stop something bad from happening, right after Bruno left without telling me what Mirabel's future was going to be like after her Gift ceremony failed,' Alma thought frantically to herself as she started walking around the wreckage of her former family home as her children and grandchildren frantically ran around the wreckage with the local villagers who had come to help, 'I thought I was doing the right thing with how I handled things over the years, so why did this have to happen this way? Everything was going so well for so long and now Casita is gone, and Mirabel could be…'

Everybody who was there were all looking for her youngest granddaughter, Mirabel, who was buried alive somewhere underneath the wreckage, and the longer it was taking to dig up the wreckage everybody's hopes that they might find Mirabel still alive dwindled more and more as time continued to went by.

Alma could only stare in open disbelief at everything around her, as shock and horror filled her very core as she looked around at the utter destruction that had befallen Casita in a matter of minutes, yet at the time it had felt like hours had passed after Casita had fallen, as the sounds of her family and the villagers yelling Mirabels name rang in her ears as they searched for Mirabel who had been buried when Casita had collapsed around her.

Seeing Casita's utter destruction and resulting 'death' had been bad enough, but the shock of witnessing Mirabel disappear under the falling rubble of their former home, had shocked Alma to her core, as she realized what had just happened to her youngest granddaughter, who had possibly just gotten herself killed trying to save the miracle candle.

Alma had seen everything perfectly from outside the boundaries of Casita after the house had kicked herself and the rest of the family out when everything started falling apart around them, and Casita had completely barricaded all of them from going back in as it fell apart before their shocked eyes.

Alma and the rest had repeatedly yelled at Mirabel to forget about the candle and to save herself, but Mirabel either couldn't hear their shouts over the noise or just point blank ignored them as she continued on her way to the candle.

Alma had watched as Mirabel made her way up to the tower where the miracle candle with Casita obviously helping her along the way as it made a path for her up to the tower, and could see her manage to reach the top and grab hold of the candle, just before Casita sent her falling back to the ground below.

Alma could only watch as Mirabel started running as soon as her feet hit the ground, as she came running in their direction while holding onto the flickering miracle candle, as Mirabel tried to avoid the falling debris as Casita tossed things in the path of anything that came really close to hitting Mirabel as she ran, and for a brief moment Alma almost let herself relax when she thought it looked like Mirabel was about to make it to safety, when a loud rumbling sound caught everybody's attention.

Alma and the rest of the family immediately turned their attention in the direction of the rumbling sound in time to see the tower that used to be Bruno's bedroom starting to fall, and everybody's cries turned to screams of terror, when they realized it was falling straight towards Mirabel, just as the last of the miracle candles flame finally flickered out completely.

"MIRABEL! WATCH OUT!"

Hearing the somewhat familiar sounding voice calling out to Mirabel, Alma jerked her head back down towards her granddaughter just in time to see Mirabel being tackled by somebody that sent the two of them flying a few feet away and out of the way of the worst part of the falling debris, only for the two figures to still wind up getting buried by what was left of Bruno's tower.

'How could this have this have happened?! After everything I tried to do for the last ten years to try and stop something bad from happening after Brunito disappeared after I asked him to do a vision about Mirabel's future,' Alma thought frantically to herself as she started walking around the wreckage of her former longtime home and best friend, as she felt tears well up in her eyes as she stared at the rubble that had once been her home for the last forty-five years, 'but ever since Antonio's Gift ceremony it's been one thing or another that everything started going wrong. Everything was all perfectly planned and prepared for, and now this just had to happen. Where did it all go wrong?'

Just then the memory of her last conversation with Mirabel just before everything went to hell for the family came to Alma's mind, as she flinched again as she remembered exactly what Mirabel had told her, and remembered the hatred and venom she could now hear in her granddaughters voice as she spoke to Alma.

"It's not because of me that the miracle is dying. Everybody in our familia is utterly miserable because of you. All of you are completely wrong about Tio Bruno, because he loves our family and he loves Casita and the Encanto just as much as everybody else does, and he will do anything for all of us to protect all of us, no matter what any horrible thing any of you may say or think about him. No matter what I do is never good enough for you just because I didn't get a Gift. For the last ten years I've been working hard to prove that I could be just as good as everybody else in the family was whether I had a Gift or not, to try and get you to love me the way you used to do before my failed Gift ceremony," Mirabel angrily, her face flushed in rage as tears began to run down her face, as her voice began to raise with each passing second as her face seemed to morph into a look of pure hatred as she started at Alma as Alma tried to interrupt her as Alma's own anger began to grow with each passing second as the two of them argued with each other, but Mirabel was now on a role and continued talking, refusing to let Alma get a single word in during Mirabel's rant as everything around them in Casita's courtyard started to rumble and shake all around them, "but absolutely nothing I ever did was good enough for you was it? Because all you ever did was yell and scold me no matter what I tried to do, even when I didn't mess up anything at all. Like right now, when I first discovered that Casita was breaking and none of you would listen to me, I've been trying so hard to fix the miracle, to make you finally proud of me by protecting Casita, but once again all you do is look at me and yell at me about how what's happening is all my fault, and won't listen to me at all! But now I finally have realized something. Nothing I will ever do is good enough for your high expectations just because I don't have a Gift. Nothing i do will make you stop hating me just because I don't have any damn special powers. Not only that, but from the way everything is going, it looks like the miracle is DYING because of YOU, not me, and YOUR high expectations of what you expect everybody in our familia to do, instead of letting us be ourselves!"

Mirabel's last words to Alma just before Casita started to fall apart echoed in Alma's mind, causing the older women to flinch a bit at the accusation. Alma had been shocked and pissed off when Mirabel had talked to her in such a way when Alma had been reprimanding her about everything that had been happening, Alma had looked around at the rest of the family as she argued with Mirabel as they silently watched what was happening.

As every memory of every interaction with her youngest granddaughter over the ten years filled Alma's mind, she flinched a bit as she recalled the hurt look on Mirabel's face each time she had reprimanded the girl over the littlest thing and Mirabel always looking like she was about to cry, but Mirabel had always smiled immediately afterwards and agreed with her, and did what she was told just like everybody else in the family did, and like always Alma had ignored it, believing that how she treated Mirabel was the best for everybody to ensure the peace inside of the Encanto.

But tonight… tonight Alma had seen something different in Mirabel's face. She didn't see sadness or tears, as she reprimanded Mirabel once again over the latest troubles that were happening. Instead Alma saw nothing but pure hate and anger on Mirabel's face and the look in the girls face, as for the first time in ten years Mirabel talked back to her, and yelled at her as she listed everything that was wrong about the family to Alma, that Alma herself had tried to ignore over the years in hopes that she was imagining things.

~-Flashback~-

Alma had spent hours searching the Encanto for Mirabel with the rest of the family after what happened during the disaster that was supposed to be Isabela's official engagement party to Mariano Guzmán that the two families had been planning for weeks just to make that night special then Mirabel had to go and mess everything up by acting out of control and suspicious.

'I really must have a word with Mirabel later on about her actions tonight. Of all nights she has to act this way, she picks now?! The Guzmán's are going to get a bad impression of us as a proper and good family if she keeps this up…' Alma thought angrily to herself as she looked at her youngest granddaughter out of the corner of her eyes for a moment, as she also noticed Dolores whispering in family members ears about something that seemed to be upsetting everybody including Pepa who now had a thundercloud forming over her head because of whatever had been said to her as everybody glanced at Mirabel with worried looks on their faces, as Alma's scowl deepens, 'I'll have to talk to Dolores as well about her own antics tonight. We are in the middle of something very important yet she can't be bothered to wait until later to tell everybody whatever her news is?'

Alma had tried to ignore Mirabel's antics all night, as she tried to focus on the engagement process that was happening in front of her as she eagerly waited for Mariano Guzmán to finally pop the question that they had all been waiting for that would have been the start of Isabella's engagement to the Guzmán family.

But then everything seemed to go wrong quickly, as out of the corner of her eye Alma spotted Dolores beginning to act suspiciously as her second eldest granddaughter started whispering in the ears of all the family members, and the odd responses everybody was exhibiting from whatever it was that Dolores was telling them, and she could see them turning their gazes towards Mirabel who was trying to look panicked by what Dolores was saying and wouldn't meet Alma's gaze when she saw her Abuela looking her way.

'What in the world is going on here? What is going on with everybody tonight? Are they purposely trying to disrupt this joyous and momentous occasion,' Alma thought incredulously, her brow furrowed in irritation at the antics of her familia during this important time, as shot a silent glare at her family in reprimanding which quickly made them all stop as soon as they saw her looking their way, 'with whatever they are talking about that could have waited until later to discuss? I must talk to Dolores about her antics tonight. She should already know better than this…'

Then the worse thing to possibly happen became a reality as just as Mariano was about to pop the big question to Isabella, Mirabel started running around the room, acting suspiciously like she was trying to not draw attention to herself, while encouraging Mariano to ignore what she was doing and to continue with his proposal, before she started scrambling around on all fours like she was chasing something, before seconds later some of Antonio's animal friends dragged out a familiar looking glowing green plate that was depicting Mirabel standing in front of a cracking Casita.

At that moment, Dolores had finally cracked and blurted out her news to everybody just as Casita started to shake and large cracks began to appear all over the dining area they were in as pieces of the ceiling started to fall and they had to immediately evacuate the area before anybody got hurt, with the Guzmán family running away back to their home, with Mariano now sporting a bleeding broken nose caused by what happened inside of Casita.

Now that Alma had time to truly think about her actions after the disastrous marriage proposal of Mariano and Isabella, that she might have over reacted. But she had been so angry by everything that had happened, and after the discovery of Bruno's final vision plate and what it implicated involving Mirabel, Alma had just let her anger take over, and had wanted to blame somebody for what happened and had chosen Mirabel for what had happened, especially when the villagers started coming up to Casita demanding answers about what had happened, and to stop the rumors that the Miracle was failing.

It had infuriated Alma when she discovered Mirabel had apparently run away during the commotion at the botched marriage proposal, instead of sticking around, Alma had spent hours trying to locate Mirabel while at the same time trying to console the villagers and trying to fix things with the Guzmán's.

It was during her meeting with the Guzmán's when everything went to hell as far as Alma was concerned, when hundreds of plants of different species and in different colors suddenly started sprouting up all over the village, with one plant hitting Mariano right in the eye, and she looked followed the path of destruction back to Casita where she could see Mirabel and Isabella standing on Casita's roof laughing and dancing together, as Isabella's powers ran a mock and made more plants grow everywhere.

After making quick apologies to the Guzmán's over Mariano's latest injury, Alma had immediately rushed back to Casita and got there just in time as Mirabel and Isabella jumped off the roof and landed in a patch of plants that Isabella had created to catch them, and she found the two of them laughing their heads off on the ground.

Seeing the two sisters acting that way after everything that had happened up until that point, had truly set off Alma as she let her anger take over much to her growing shame, and she immediately rushed over to the two girls and started berating and shouting at both of them.

Isabella had immediately backed down, not bothering to argue with Alma at all, as she seemed to cringe away from the older woman in fear as Alma yelled at her, but to Alma's shock it had been Mirabel who had spoken up and openly defied her and defended Isabella and her actions, as the two of them got into a heated argument with each other as the rest of the family started to show up and gather in Casita's courtyard, and it was during the argument when Casita started breaking once and for all.

~-End Flashback~-

'Oh, nieta, I didn't mean it. If I still can, I want to take it all back if it's not too late to do so,' Alma thought morosely to herself as she felt tears start to run down her cheeks, as she remembered her last 'talk' with Mirabel just a short while ago, as she began to remember how she had been treating Mirabel for the last ten years, 'Oh, who am I kidding? After everything that has happened up until right now, even if Mirabel is still alive somehow, it might be a long while before I can fix things with her if I can…'

"Pepa! Are you all right, mi amor?!" Félix's voice suddenly rang out, causing Alma to immediately turn her attention on her second daughter and her son-in-law, as worry filled Alma when she saw that it looked like Pepa was suddenly having trouble and was clutching her chest tightly with one hand, as the redhead looked frantically around in search of something, as Félix tried to help her stand.

Looking around, Alma quickly spotted Julieta who nearby with Agustin, and from the looks of Julieta, her oldest daughter seemed to be exhibiting the same symptoms as her sister, as Julieta also clutched at her chest as if she was in pain as well from whatever was happening to the two of them, while Agustin was tending to her as well.

Even from where she was standing, Alma could hear Pepa instinctively chanting her trademark "clear skies, clear skies" speech, as Pepa tried to calm herself down so she wouldn't trigger one of her really bad rainstorms, after whatever had just happened that was making her have a panic attack, even though there was no sign of one of her storm clouds forming anywhere.

'It's truly strange to not seeing a thundering rain cloud hovering over Pepa's head after all these years. By now we'd be in a rainstorm because of how upset she is looking right now,' Alma thought silently to herself as she briefly looked up at the empty space over Pepa's head, where her trademark rain clouds would usually be, but she didn't see anything, 'I guess that both Casita and the miracle are truly both gone, if not even Pepa's weather powers are working anymore.'

Concern filling her as she wondered about what was happening to her daughters, Alma hurried over Pepa and Félix's side as fast as she could, and within seconds she was kneeling next to Pepa who was now sitting down in a chair one of the villagers had brought up, while Félix stood at her side with a bowl of water and was dipping a wet cloth into the bowl and patting Pepa's sweating face with it.

"Pepa, Félix what is happening? Pepa it looks like both you and Julieta were about to collapse any second? Do you feel unwell and need to go rest?" Alma demanded as she stared into her daughters' green eyes with open concern, as she took in how pale and withdrawn Pepa was beginning to look with each passing second, as she reached out to take Pepa's hand in hers to give it a comforting squeeze of encouraging, "please tell me that you are all right and what's wrong."

"I don't know, mama. One moment I was feeling perfectly fine, then it felt like a chill spread throughout my body, and it became harder to breathe," Pepa said as she stared at her mother from under the wet cloth as Félix gently brought it across her face once again, as her hand clutches at her chest once more as she took a deep breathe, "and my chest and heart started hurting for no reason at all. It just came out of nowhere, and I don't know what it was, but the feeling is gone now. But now all I feel is…"

"You feel what now, Pepa?" Félix asked as he stopped what he was doing to stare intently at his wife, when her voice seemed to trail off for a moment as a vacant look appeared in her gaze.

"It feels empty inside me now. Like something very important to me is now no longer there anymore…" Pepa finally says after a few moments of silence, as tears began to well up in her eyes as she stared at her mother and husband, "I really don't like how this is making me feel right now with everything that is currently going on…"

"TIO BRUNO! Where are you?! We need your help to find Mirabel! You don't have to hide anymore so come on out!"

"...Tio Bruno isn't missing, because I just saw him just a few hours ago hanging out with Mirabel..."

~-Luisa and Isabella's POV~-

Meanwhile Luisa was off to one side trying to lift a stone wall but found she couldn't move it at all, as panic filled her as she kept trying to pull and tug on it to no avail as it refused to budge at all thanks to her lack of her super strength.

'Why did I have to lose my powers now of all times, just when we really need it?!' Luisa was wailing silently to herself as she struggled to pull up a collapsed wall, but she could just barely move it an inch off of the ground, 'It's bad enough that Casita collapsed, but the longer this takes to move this blasted wall, Mirabel could already be dead…'

Just then, Luisa jumped a bit when multiple hands joined her in trying to lift the wall, and she quickly glanced around to see the faces of some of the villagers who she had always used her super strength to help in the past were now standing at her side and helping her try and lift the wall.

"Senora Luisa, please do not cry. Allow us to help you with this, while you should go take a break for the moment." One of the men said as he brought over some tools, which most of the men who were helping Luisa with the wall rushed over to grab, as the man walked over to Luisa and placed a gentle hand on her shoulder as she turned her gaze upon him in confusion, "you are taking to much upon yourself right now, and need all the help you can get if we are to find Mirabel in time."

"TIO BRUNO! Where are you?! We need your help to find Mirabel! You don't have to hide anymore so come on out!"

'Wait what? Antonio doesn't even know Tio Bruno, so why is he calling for him? Especially with Tia Pepa and Abuela around to him say it?' Luisa thought silently to herself as her head jerked up when he heard her youngest cousins, Antonio, voice calling out for Tio Bruno for some reason, as she and some of the villagers who were around her all also paused in what Antonio had said, as confusion filled everybody's faces as they all turned their gazes to where Antonio was busy talking with Camilo, 'At a time like this, Abuela and Tia Pepa are going to be angry again by hearing Tio Bruno's name again…'

Just then what Antonio was saying to Camilo reached Luisa's ears, causing her to suck in her breath in shock and confusion about what the five year old was telling his brother.

"...Tio Bruno isn't missing, because I just saw him just a few hours ago hanging out with Mirabel..."

'Wait… Antonio's actually seen Tio Bruno?! Recently?' Louisa thought incredulously, her mind running a mile a minute at the implications of what she was hearing coming from her youngest cousin as confusion filled her as she started making her way over to the two boys, 'But how could Antonio have met him when he's gone now?'

~-Camilo and Antonio's POV~-

The rest of the Madrigals had tried to get Antonio to stay out of the rescue process because they didn't want him to see the condition Mirabel might be in, when they found her. But Antonio had stubbornly refused to stay back to the sidelines as he wanted to help look for Mirabel no matter what anybody said, so Camilo had volunteered to watch over Antonio as he searched for Mirabel.

"Mirabel! Can you hear me?!" Camilo was shouting loudly, as he and Antonio combed the areas where they had last seen their favorite cousin, as Camilo was digging through debris that seemed to never come to an end no matter how much he dug through it, "Come on, Mira! Please answer me!"

"Mirabel! Where are you?!" Antonio called out as he started looking around for something, like he had suddenly remembered something else, as the five-year-old started yelling again, causing everybody who could hear him to freeze up when Antonio suddenly started yelling out a completely different name now instead of just calling out Mirabel's name, "TIO BRUNO! Where are you?! We need your help to find Mirabel! You don't have to hide anymore so come on out!"

"Tony why are you calling for Tio Bruno?" Camilo asked, calling Antonio by his nickname as he turned his full attention on his younger brother in confusion, as he saw the way Antonio was looking around the area as he called out both Mirabel and Bruno's names, "Tio Bruno is gone, remember? Plus we're not allowed to talk about him anymore for any reason. He's been gone for ten years. We are looking for Mirabel only now."

"But, Camilo! You don't understand! Tio Bruno isn't missing, because I just saw him just a few hours ago hanging out with Mirabel. He was really nice and not like what everybody says he is. Tio Bruno never left. He's been right here the entire time that everybody thought he was 'missing'. A bunch of rats that hang out with Tio Bruno took me to where they were," Antonio denied vehemently as he shook his head at what Camilo had just said, as he continued speaking when he saw the incredulous look on Camilo's face at his words, as he innocently looked up at his big brother with a big smile on Antonio's face, despite the disbelieving look Camilo was giving his brother because of what Antonio had just told him, as Antonio quickly continued speaking, "the rats were telling me that Mirabel and Tio Bruno needed my help and took me to where they were. He's been living inside Casitas walls all this time. I even let them use my room to do a prophecy vision because Tio Bruno's room got destroyed by something Mirabel did earlier."

A startled gasp of shock caught the two boys' attention, as they immediately spun around to see Alma, Pepa and Félix standing behind them, with stunned looks on their faces after hearing what Antonio had just said about Bruno, as the three adults approached the two boys with stern looks on their faces.

When Camilo saw the looks on both his mother and abuela's face, he immediately started to panic, knowing that the two of them were on the verge of doing one of their 'we don't talk about Bruno' rants, and he tried to de-escalate the situation before it had the chance to start, especially since Antonio would have been the target of the rants since he was the one who brought up Bruno's name this time.

"Mom, dad, grandma, don't listen to Tony, he's just kidding around. There is no way he…" Camilo immediately spoke up, as he tried to stave off his mother and grandmothers impending rage at hearing Bruno's name again, only to immediately stop talking when he saw the distraught look on Alma's face, as she held up a hand to stop him.

Alma stepped forward and closed the gap between herself and her two grandsons, she quickly approached Antonio and knelt down in front of Antonio so that they could be staring each other directly in the eyes before she started to speak in a calm yet strained sounding voice.

"Yeah grandma, I did see him. I don't know why everybody hates him so much, because he's really nice and sweet he even does the funny 'Knock on Wood' move that made me laugh when I saw it," Antonio said sincerely as he vehemently nodded his head yes at Alma's question as he continued to speak with growing excitement in his voice, not noticing the shocked looks on his familia and the villagers faces as he spoke up, "He's been trying to fix Casita all these years so nobody would be sad. He worried about what was happening to Casita just like Mirabel was. His rat friends told me that he's been trying to patch up all of the cracks that kept appearing around Casita to keep Casita from falling apart."

"Wait, what's the 'Knock on Wood' move?" Camilo asked, confusion filling his voice as he listened to his younger brother talk about their Tio Bruno.

"I'll show you. This is how he did it." Antonio said.

Much to the surprise of everyone who was watching and listening to what Antonio was saying, they stared in shock as Antonio pulled away from Alma and proceeded to do a perfect imitation of Bruno Madrigal's infamous 'Knock on Wood' ritual that everyone in the village always saw him doing, as he bent over and scooped up some sand off the ground, tossed it over his shoulder, then started knocking on various wooden surfaces and while saying 'Knock on wood' repeatedly, before sucking in his breath and holding his hands up as he started walking around.

'I don't believe it. He's doing it exactly the way Bruno always did it. It's like seeing Bruno back when he was Antonio's age again…' was the thought that was running through the minds of everybody gathered there watching Antonio's antics in shock and disbelief, as what Antonio had told them hit them hard, 'Bruno's been missing since before Antonio was born, so the only way he could know about it to mimic it so perfectly was if he had seen Bruno Madrigal himself do it…'

Meanwhile Alma's mind was running a mile a minute as the implications of what Antonio was telling her hit her hard as she watched her youngest grandson mimic his missing uncles unusual quirk perfectly for a five year old child who had never even met the man before in the ten years that Bruno had been missing.

'No way… Antonio truly has met Brunito, but how and why? Why has Bruno been hiding from us all this time, let alone been living inside of Casita's walls if what Antonio says is true,' Alma thought silently to herself as she watched her youngest grandsons antics as he did his tip's ritual, as for a brief second Alma could almost imagine Bruno doing it at that age instead, 'What he is saying has to be true, because we never told Antonio about Bruno's 'Knock On Wood' quirk or did it in front of him in the last five years, yet he's doing it perfectly…'

Just then what Antonio said next caused everybody to freeze up in shock and horror, as cold chills filled everybody's body to the core.

"When Casita was falling, I thought I heard tio Bruno's voice calling out for Mirabel when the prophecy tower was falling towards her," Antonio said, as worry began to fill his voice as he looked back at everybody else after he stopped doing his Knock on Wood impression as he riddled with his rurana for a moment before he looked back up with tears starting to form in his eyes, "I also think I saw him tackle Mirabel just before the tower fell on top of her, but I'm not sure. Do you think he's okay too since he's not here and not answering me?"

"Oh no… I have a bad feeling…" Pepa said, panic filling her voice once more as she spoke as she turned her gaze on her sister who own face was also beginning to look as panicked as Pepa imagined her own face was now looking like, "Julieta you don't think…?"

"After what happened a few minutes ago when we both had our attacks at the same time, it could be, Pepa." Julieta said as tears filled her own eyes, as she realized what Antonio had been implying could possibly mean, as the memories of what both she and Pepa had been feeling just a few minutes ago came back to her as she clutched at her chest with one hand, "Remember the pain we both felt?"

"And how it suddenly felt like it was becoming extremely hard to breathe, or move without pain?" Pepa added in, as Julieta nodded her head in agreement to what Pepa had said as despair began to fill Pepa the more she thought about what had happened, "it was like when we were kids only a million times worse."

"Wait, what happened that is 'just like when you were kids', Tia Pepa?" Luisa asked as she came up to the rest of the group, confusion lacing Luisa's voice as she looked between her mother and aunt and back again.

"Luisa, the best way I can think of to explain this is that when your Tia Pepa and I were children along with your Tio Bruno, we could always feel each other." Julieta said as she said as she turned towards her daughters as the rest of the family came up to them, "Thats the best thing I can think of to properly describe it. No matter where we were we always knew where each other were, plus what the other was feeling..."

"…Or if one of us was in extreme pain… then all three of us felt it even if it was our own even though it was only one of us who had the actually physical pain. Then just a few minutes ago," Pepa said as tears was starting to form in her eyes as the words left her mouth, as her hand reached up to grip at her chest once more, as both she and Julieta shared a panicked look between the two of them, as Alma began to drastically pale as she listened to what her daughters were saying, "Julieta and I both felt excruciating pain coursing through our bodies that came out of nowhere, and then it stopped. With everything going on I didn't think about what it meant until Antonio brought up seeing Bruno… if he's really here, and he's down there under the rubble with Mirabel and then the way the pain went away…"

"No…" Alma whispered quietly to herself as she heard what Pepa had said, as she glanced down at the pile of rubble that was at her feet in open disbelief for a few moments, as her mind went over what Antonio had just said, "it can't be true. Why would he be living in Casitas walls all this time? Hiding away from us for ten years? Dolores would have heard him and…"

"I always told you guys I could still 'hear' him, but you guys were so mad that he had 'left'," Dolores piped in, interrupting Alma and causing everybody to immediately turn their gazes upon her, as she gave a small shrug of her shoulders at the incredulous looks they were giving, "I stopped bringing it up. Besides I eventually made a promise to Tio Bruno that I wouldn't tell anybody where he was even somebody did ask me."

'Brunito's been here the entire time? Living in Casita's walls all these years,' Alma thought frantically to herself silently, as the memory of one of the last things Mirabel had said to her involving Bruno, 'when we thought he was gone completely? That would mean he heard everything we said about him over the years…'

"All of you are completely wrong about Tio Bruno, because he loves our family and he loves Casita and the Encanto just as much as everybody else does, and he will do anything for all of us to protect all of us, no matter what any horrible thing any of you may say or think about him."

Just then a loud commotion from nearby drew everybody's attention.

"Hey I think we found them!" One of the villagers yelled out, as he and some men continued digging furiously in one spot with pickaxes and shovels while others lifted derbies out of the way.

As the Madrigals all raced over to where the villagers were, they looked down into a growing hole the villagers were making, where they could see the top of what looked like some kind of upraised stone enclosure underneath the rubble.

But what really caught everybody's attention as more rubble was removed, they could all see what appeared to be two different pairs of unmoving legs half sticking out of the enclosure, that had a pool of blood coming out of the enclosure.

Upon finding the enclosure and bodies, everybody started digging more hurriedly hoping that they weren't too late, and it took several whacks of the villagers pickaxes before they were finally able to break open the enclosure to reveal Bruno and Mirabel's unmoving bodies underneath.

Before anybody else could move, Alma was the first one out of her family to rush forward, as she reached the enclosure, and stared down at the two unmoving bodies of her only son and youngest granddaughter as they laid in the debris, as tears started to well up in her eyes.

"Bruno? Mirabel, the two of you are safe now, so you can get up and out of there," Alma said in her best stern sounding voice, though her voice wavered a bit as denial filled her as she stared at what was before her, as she hoped it wasn't true, but received no reaction or answer from either one to her words, "Bruno you have a lot of explaining to do young man…"

"No! They are just knocked out. Everybody come help me get them out of there so we can get the two of them some proper medical treatment for their injuries. Then all will be well again I assure you of that," Alma said s she knelt down and grabbed onto Bruno's blood soaked green ruana and started tugging at his unmoving body, before Félix and Agustin stepped forward to help her pull were they able to finally manage to pull him up and gently set his body on some nearby grass, before they moved onto Mirabel's body and placed her next to Bruno's body, "No…"

Pretty soon the sound of loud wails and cries of remorse and sorrow could be heard all around as everybody stared down at the unmoving and lifeless bodies of Bruno and Mirabel Madrigal as their bodies laid side by side outside of Casita's ruins, as the Julieta's rushed forward to grab her youngest daughters body into her arms, as she cried loudly while rocking Mirabel in her arms, as Agustin, Isabella and Louisa gathered around the two of them.

Meanwhile Alma was also crying her own eyes out as she also held Bruno's lifeless body in her own arms, while Pepa and her family gathered around her trying to comfort her, as tears started welling up in Pepa's own eyes as she stared down at the lifeless body of her brother in despair.

'He's really been here the whole time we thought he was missing for the last ten years? Living inside of Casita's walls, like Antonio claims? Why would he do this? Was it all because of his last prophecy involving Mirabel?' Pepa thought silently to herself as she thought about what Antonio had told the family about how he had found out about Bruno still being there, as pain hit her as she realized Bruno must have heard every single horrible thing she had been saying about him over the last ten years, 'Having all of us worry about him all these years, thinking he had run off, yet he's been here the whole entire time? If I had known he was here i would have dragged him out of hiding immediately.'

A few days later, Bruno and Mirabel were buried in the local cemetery that Encanto had, with their graves next the grave of Pedro Madrigal.

To be continued...

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Author's Notes:
So what do you guys think? This chapter is completed at 24 pages. This is my first attempt at writing a Encanto (2021) fanfiction story. Please tell me what you think of it in reviews. Do you guys love it? Hate it? What? Though extremely rude flamers won't be tolerated. Please tell me what all of you think of this story of mine.

To everybody who has already read the Prologue chapter when I first posted it, and skipped straight to the new Chapter 1, I just wanted to tell all of you that I put up a update in the Author's Notes at the bottom of the Prologue chapter, that you guys should go read, to find out what is going to happen in later chapters. I also as updated certain parts in the chapter as well.

This chapter used to be a part of the prologue chapter, but then the combination got too long, so I split it into two separate chapters. The prologue would have just ended with Mirabel's part after I took out this part, but then I got the idea to add the scene with Bruno's POV, so the prologue wound up getting long again.

I did the scene with the rest of the family to show what happened in the old timeline after Mirabel and Bruno were buried under Casita's rubble, and how the family was reacting as they tried to dig them out in time. While Mirabel and Bruno 'waking up' in the past will happen next chapter.

If anybody is wondering about the 'feeling' Pepa and Julieta both felt the moment when Bruno died, it's the infamous special twin (or 'triplet' in this case lol) bond thing. As all of you just saw when Julieta and Pepa had their 'attacks' where they both nearly collapsed at the exact same time, it happened because of the bond they share with Bruno. Like they described it to the family, the three each other can 'feel' anything that happens to the other, including pain that one of them is feeling.

I got this idea from another book involving a pair of twins in it. One twin had broken their leg, and the other one could feel the pain in the same leg like it was their own pain, even though there was nothing physically wrong with the uninjured twins leg, as well for the entire time their siblings leg was healing. *lol*

I also read another book where a pair of twins who were separated at birth and never knew the other one existed, and one of them died and nearly took their twin with them even though the twin was millions of miles away, and the one who was still alive decided years later to go looking for her mystery family she never knew and winds up in the country her twin lived in and gets mistaken for her by people who knew her, who said the twin disappeared without a trace years ago on the same day the living twin nearly died and nobody's seen the dead twin since or even knows she's dead as the reason she 'disappeared' since they never found her body.

They both felt Bruno die, but had no clue what the feeling was when it happened until after they found his body with Mirabel. The bond is probably also amplified because of the family magic as the reason Bruno's death hit them so hard when it happened.

Started On: January 29, 2023
Completed On: April 24, 2023