5. Support

Things were tense in both the town and in Casita, but Pepa and Felix stood their ground and forced everyone else to accept that if they wanted Pepa to stay, if they wanted to keep their ability to protect their crops from droughts and the Encanto from the worst of the storms she held off, they needed to accept the new normal.

Dolores, Camilo and Mirabel were off-limits. They couldn't just demand anything from the three. If they wanted to ask for help with something, they had to ask Pepa or Felix who usually said no because so far 'help' was the same as 'make my life easier'.

There were some exceptions of course. When a parent was searching for their child, Dolores didn't mind helping them. If she wasn't busy when a villager asked her where someone was, she would tell them as long as it wasn't too private.

But the days of demanding answers were gone. 

And if someone tried to make Camilo help in any way, they usually had an angry Pepa coming after them.

Dolores was honestly relieved to see her hermanito being able to just have fun with his Gift. His favourite thing to do was make Mirabel laugh and smile. And his favourite way to do that was to shift into a replica of her.

The pair would run around and declare themselves gemelos while Camilo refused to shift back until he got hungry.

Pepa and Felix thought it was the cutest thing while it only frustrated the other members of the house.

Camilo also wasn't shy about telling Pepa if Abuela or Isabela were mean when speaking to him, thinking he was Mirabel.

That caused more than a few fights.

Isabela hadn't taken the entire situation very well at all. Her relationship with Dolores had soured very quickly when the slightly younger girl prioritised Mirabel and told her off for any cruel words she spat at the five-year-old.

Pepa was almost certain that her hostility was due to Abuela’s whispers in her ear. The same went for Luisa's continued avoidance of the little girl.

Pepa only shook her head as Julieta and Agustin allowed her mamá to pressure the other girls into shunning their hermana.

When the behaviour drew tears to Mirabel's eyes they were all quick to act.

Pepa would scoop her up and pepper her face with kisses until she was giggling and smiling again. Felix would dance with her, spinning their hija until she shrieked with laughter.

Dolores was quick to cuddle Mirabel and shower her with soft praise and compliments until she was smiling shyly again.

But Camilo was always the best at pulling her out of a funk. He'd pull her off and in no time they'd be getting up to mischief with laughter ringing in the air. The pair were even more attached at the hip than ever before and Camilo was insistent to anyone that tried to argue that Mirabel was his melliza, or gemelo depending on if he was shifted into her or not.

He'd become very good at mimicking Mirabel by now. The rest of the family couldn't tell them apart anymore.

Pepa and Felix always could of course. They were their parents. Of course they could tell their little gemelos apart.

Dolores could as well but that was because their heartbeats sounded slightly different and she'd memorised the entire family's heartbeats early into having her Gift.

Everyone else was clueless.

Pepa would wistfully think some days that Bruno would have loved the mischief and probably also be able to tell them apart. He'd always been observant. Although he would have likely played along and pretended not to be able to.

She missed her hermanito every day and sometimes found herself thinking back to certain moments and wondering if she'd done better, would he still be there?

And when the grief crushed her and the rain fell, much to her mamá's displeasure, her sweet little niños would pile on top of her, Dolores carrying a warm cup of her favourite tea.

It usually didn't take long for the sun to peek through the clouds after that, with no chanting of 'clear skies' needed.

Felix was so very smug about that, having believed the chant did far more harm than good. Pepa was starting to finally believe him about that since she felt much less stressed in general when she got some crying in.

It made her rethink many things.

"Mami!" Pepa turned her head to find Mira running up with a wide smile on her face, Camilo not far behind her.

"Sí mija?" She asked.

Mirabel pointed to the bright red bow in her hair.

"I look like my hermana!" She stated proudly.

Pepa noticed Isabela stiffen a little out of the corner of her eye where the girl was growing rose bushes in the empty pots.

"I see Mira. Did Dolores help you?" She asked, spotting her older hija heading their way with a small, pleased smile.

"Sí!" Mira beamed happily. "Dolores has been helping me learn to take care of my hair!"

“You look beautiful mija,” Pepa smiled at her.

Mirabel did a happy spin before darting off with Camilo again. Probably to cause some mischief again.

It had been three weeks since Pepa took Mira as her own and it was good to see her smiling so easily again.

“Bonding with your hermana?” she asked Dolores as she came to stand beside Pepa.

Dolores gave a happy hum.

“I’m glad you two had some fun.”

Pepa wrapped an arm around her firstborn and guided her away from Isabela as they chatted. She’d noticed the thorns growing on the rose bushes.

As much as Isabela may try to deny it, jealousy was inevitable when you lost something and someone else gained it right in front of you.

She’d keep an eye on her sobrina. She was still upset that her mamá was pressuring Isabela and Luisa to act like this. But she wouldn’t let jealousy hurt either Dolores or Mirabel.

Pepa and Felix were woken abruptly by their door slamming open and Dolores rushing inside in tears.

“Mija?” Pepa was immediately alarmed while Felix gathered her close as she sobbed.

“What’s wrong?” he asked worriedly, rubbing her back soothingly.

“It’s- I heard them- I went to get some water so I was out of my room and I heard them.”

Pepa was very concerned about the frantic, distressed words.

“Mija, what did you hear? Who did you hear?” she asked gently.

“Some of the v-villagers,” Dolores buried her face in her papá’s shirt. “They- mamá they-”

She was crying so hard she could barely get the words out.

Felix rocked her soothingly while Pepa stroked her hair.

“I think they did something to Tio Bruno,” she finally got out in a frightened whisper and Pepa’s world screeched to a halt.