1. Take a Seat

SPOILERS FOR ENCANTO

ALL TRANSLATIONS IN ITALICS AND BRACKETS

TRANSLATIONS ARE FROM GOOGLE TRANSLATE… SO… DON'T BE SURPRISED IF ERRORS.

The Madrigal house had been restored. The magic had returned and the family was finally back together. Everyone in the town came together to help rebuild Casita and with Mirabel restoring the miracle it seemed like everything could now start over. Start new.

The community had returned to their homes after the celebratory party. The Madrigals, each exhausted from all the dancing and social interaction, returned to their rooms for some much-needed sleep. But, despite everything being back to normal, back to the way it was… well the improved version at least, there were still multiple questions everyone wanted answers to.

What exactly happened? What had happened to cause Casita to fall in the first place? Where did the crack come from? How much did Mirabel go through to try and fix it? What else didn't they know?

The more each member pondered the question the more desperate they became to find the answers. Surely enough. Those very questions all came into the conversation at that morning's breakfast table.

"So… uh." Camilo scratched the back of his neck. "Anyone know where the cracks came from?"

He brought the question up, so out of the blue that it startled the family. Tío Bruno, for example, was caught so off guard that he choked on his drink. Mirabel gently pat him on the back to help him recover.

"Um… no." Abuela answered.

"Bruno? Mirabel? Do either of you know?" Julieta asked. She had assumed that if anyone would know it would be one of those two.

Both Bruno and Mirabel looked at each other quickly before facing the family. "Nope."

"Well, that's helpful." Camilo said quietly, sarcasm evident in his voice.

"You asked the question Camilo." Mirabel pointed out.

"Actually…" He said as he raised his index finger before shifting into one of the town's school teachers. "If we are going to get into the nitty gritty specifics here. Technically it was Tía Julieta who asked the question." He smirked before returning to Camilo.

He could hear his siblings and cousins chuckle at the impression, causing a smile of his own to appear.

The family continued to eat their breakfast before Tío Félix asked the next question.

"So… what exactly did you do to try and fix the candle's magic?" He watched as everyone 'subtly' leaned in, also interested to hear the answer. "Before the house fell apart I mean." He added.

Mirabel opened her mouth to answer before she was cut off.

"Did you know that I helped?" Antonio raised his hand, excited to mention that he was involved.

"Very funny Toñito…" Pepa said, looking at her youngest sobrina and her brother.

"And I discovered the moon." Camilo mocked.

"No… he was actually there." Bruno shrugged before taking another bite of his food.

"What!" Pepa yelled as a cloud appeared above her.

"What?" Camilo shouted. "Why did Antonio, a literal five-year-old, get to join in and I wasn't invited?" He crossed his arms and huffed.

"How long was Antonio involved?" Pepa asked, doing her best to not lose it at her brother.

"Not long Mami." Antonio answered. "It was only like ten minutes. I wish it was longer." He said as he looked down.

"Wait… so what did happen exactly?" Agustín questioned.

"Well…" Mirabel began, looking at her Tío.

"I guess it depends on where you wanna start." Bruno said.

Suddenly the tiles began to rustle and their chairs were all pulled back from the table. As family members began to question Casita they all were jolted forward being pushed in their chairs around the house.

Mirabel tried to look at her family's reactions. Her Papá looked like he was about to throw up from the movements, her Mamá more worried about him than what was actually happening around her. Abuela, Tía Pepa, Isabela, Luisa and Dolores all seemed too stunned to move and on the other side, there was Camilo, Antonio and Tío Félix seemingly having the time of their lives.

"Whoo!" Antonio yelled as held his hands in the air, similar to a rollercoaster.

"Antonio! Hold on to your chair! We don't need you falling!" Pepa yelled in concern for her youngest.

Mirabel looked around for the last family member, Tío Bruno, She found him almost being flung from his chair each time it moved or turned. Before she could laugh she felt herself almost fall from her own chair. She looked up to see her Tío laughing at her.

As the family continued through the house they came upon a section of the house no one had ever seen before. The further they went the more they all questioned where they were. They had been pushed past the kitchen, past the foyer, the linen press, the laundry.

There had never been another room past the laundry.

The door flung open and they were all one by one thrown into the room creating a small pile of Madrigals. Once everyone was in the room the door slammed shut. Everyone slowly stood up, dusting themselves off before letting Casita know how unpleasant that experience was.

"Hey!"

"Casita, what are you doing?"

"What is going on?"

"Someone could have gotten seriously hurt!"

"Casita!"

"Okay is this some prank?"

"Casita, you almost made Agustín sick."

"That was fun! Let's do it again!"

Mirabel was the last off of the floor, Tío Bruno offering her a hand up. She took it, thanked him, then dusted herself off before taking in her surroundings.

A large blank screen at the end of the room, multiple chairs all line neatly in rows and a projector sitting just above the doorway.

"Have you ever seen this place?" She asked her Tío, who stood next to her.

"Nope. Neither in or out of the walls."

The family, still having a word with Casita, still hadn't looked around yet.

"Hey guys," Mirabel called out to her family, gaining their attention. "Take a look." She said, gesturing to the room.

"Sweet," Camilo said as he nodded his head. "I didn't know Casita had a home theatre!"

"It doesn't." Abuela commented, absolutely confused.

As Camilo walked down to the bottom of the stairs he saw a door. He approached it and swung it open quickly.

"And free snacks! This place is awesome!" He called out to the rest of his family holding up a popcorn box and some lollies. Antonio hastily ran towards his older brother, eager to get some snacks of his own. Pepa wasn't too far behind her boys, monitoring what they were picking out.

"Les va a doler la barriga, bajenle a los dulces" (You two are going to get a belly ache. Slow down on the sweets!)

Mirabel could hear the rest of her family, save for tío Bruno and Abuela, bickering and chatting amongst themselves.

"Casita?" Mirabel said slowly. "Why bring us here?"

The screen flashed in response, causing her Papá to jump. She saw her Mamá and sisters rush to help him up as Camilo laughed.

"Grab some snacks then take a seat…" Bruno muttered from beside her, reading what was in bold writing on the screen. He shrugged before making his way downstairs to grab snacks of his own.

OoOoOoO

Once everyone was seated Mirabel took a look around. Her Mamá, Papá and Isabela all sat together one row back from the front. Isabela had a small bag of soft lollies in her lap while her parents shared a box of popcorn.

Luisa sat by herself in the centre with popcorn and a drink. Dolores sat only a few seats away from Luisa. Her drink sat in the cup holder provided. Camilo and Antonio sat together at the back of the theatre, a bit of everything scattered around them from the newly dubbed 'Snack corner'.

Abuela, Tía Pepa and Tío Félix were also a trio seated at the front. Abuela had no snacks or drink while Tía Pepa and Tío Félix, similar to her own parents, shared a box of popcorn.

Then there was Mirabel and Tío Bruno. The two sat in the back corner of the theatre, both had popcorn and drink and decided to split m&ms.

Once everyone had settled in another message flashed onto the screen.

IT'S TIME FOR YOU ALL TO FIGURE OUT WHAT HAPPENED.

A quiet chatter began to fill the air as everyone read what was being presented. Another change of slide hushed everyone again.

YOU ALL HAVE THE ABILITY TO PAUSE THE MOVIE AT ANY TIME.

A small remote appeared next to each person. Once again the family began to speak up, each talking to someone else or even to themselves. Their attention was then pulled back to the changing screen.

DON'T ABUSE THIS POWER.

The family all turned their heads to look at Camilo.

"What?"

Almost as if it had been pre-planned, the family raised their eyebrows, sending him the signals of 'that was meant for you.'.

Then flash.

The film started.