19. Agustin and Felix

Agustin was working up some courage. There was a nagging feeling inside him. And that feeling told him that he needed to talk to Mirabel. He'd only seen her four times since she was five, and the most important one had resulted in him yelling at...well... not at her, but towards her. And he regretted it. There was just so much pent-up rage inside him towards Bruno.

His brother-in-law. His old friend. The man who had been a constant in his life for nearly twenty years. The man who had kidna- No. Not kidnapped. Rescued. Bruno had had permission to take Mirabel... Julieta had given him...

But he was getting sidetracked. He should be focusing on his apology to Mirabel. He really did want to get to know her. He was interested in finding out who she was, what she liked doing, who her friends were. She had grown so much since last he had seen her. She was basically a completely different person. He wanted to have a relationship with her.

He made his way toward the nursery. It hurt his heart to know that that was the only place she could stay for now. He wished she had a room that she could go to, but that was the reason she had left so long ago.

He passed his other daughters' rooms. He longed for the four of them to just... spend time together, as a family. He longed to wrap the three of them in a large hug, and let them all just stay together, healed and whole.

Instead he had a daughter who was constantly helping around town, a daughter who just had a ruined proposal, and a daughter who had been missing for ten years.

Pausing for a moment outside of Luisa's room he could swear something strange happened. The orange glow that permeated every magical door in the house... flickered. Dramatically. When it stopped it was darker than before.

What the heck just happened?

He stared at his middle child's room, thought about knocking, but then remembered that Luisa was still in town. As he stood there he remembered the words Mirabel had said in front of the whole family:

Pa- Bruno, had a vision... He said the magic was in danger.

Bruno's visions were never wrong. No matter how much anyone wanted to change them. No matter what they tried, they often made the vision come true by trying to reverse it. If Bruno had seen the magic being in danger, then it was in danger. No matter how Agustin felt about him. And if Luisa's door was flickering...

No. Now was not the time to be focusing on whether or not the magic was safe. Now was the time to go and talk to his youngest.

He left Luisa's door, and came to the nursery. He could hear hushed voices from behind it, but did even knock as he opened the door.“Mirabel...” he said, walking into the room and catching Mirabel and Dolores off guard. “I know we got off on the wrong foot. Funny how I can-”

He froze.

There.

On the dresser.

Was...

A vision tablet.

He hadn't seen one of those in ten years.

Mirabel and Dolores were frozen. Agustin was frozen in shock. His jaw dropped. No... Mirabel wouldn't have... Would she? Did she... What was... What did the future hold? He stared at the tablet, then up at the two young women who had wide scared eyes.

Before he could say a word, Dolores blurted out, “We snuck into Bruno's tower. We found his last vision. Mirabel's in it. The magic is in danger. And we might all be doomed!” Mirabel snapped her head over to look at her cousin, but Agustin found his attention glued to the green tablet behind the two of them.

He stepped up next to them, and stared down at the glass. Sure enough, there was Mirabel, engraved in the glass. His eyes stayed locked on the green version of his daughter's face for a moment, then he heard Dolores say slowly, “Tio?”

Casita was broken behind her. Mirabel was upset. The magic was in danger...

“Mirabel...” Agustin said in a quiet voice, “Did you know about this?” He looked over at her, and Mirabel's eyes widened in shock. “No!” she defended. “Of course not. Papá never... Bruno never told me that he had a vision with...”

Agustin stared at her, whose eyes dropped to the ground a moment later. She stepped on her left foot with her right nervously, and swayed back and forth. It was a mannerism that only one person Agustin knew of had, and it felt like Mirabel was stabbing his heart with a rusty spoon...

“What are we going to do?” Dolores asked, and Agustin felt something click in his mind. If they did what he initially thought, he would probably never see Mirabel again. If he told his suegra about this vision... if she saw that Mirabel was going to hurt the magic... Agustin couldn't even imagine what she would do.

And Bruno had seen this... years ago. Was that why he had left? It made Agustin feel a little bit better about him, but a deep hatred was not something that a few new facts could heal, no matter how big the facts may be.

“We tell no one.” Agustin said with a certainty he had never really felt before. The only thing he felt more certain of in that moment was the love he held for his wife and daughters. He took a blanket from off of Antonio's old bed and covered the vision completely, and turned back towards Dolores and Mirabel, who watched him with expecting eyes. “If Abuela finds this... Oof. We will figure out what's wrong with the magic ourselves, and then we'll fix it...”

“It changes.” Mirabel said, cutting Agustin off. He blinked in confusion at her, but Mirabel seemed to not notice or care. She removed the blanket, taking care not to jostle any of the shards. Shards. This vision was broken... Bruno must have smashed it, hoping that no one ever looked at it again.

Mirabel beckoned for Agustin to look at the tablet again, and he followed her to the right of the glass. As he stared at it head on it still held a broken future. A broken home. But then, when Mirabel motioned for him to, he tilted his head to the left and saw...

A figure appear out of nowhere and hug Mirabel. With a complete and whole Casita behind them. Agustin wished he could see the figure's face, but he was left with staring at their back.

“We're trying to figure out who that is.” Dolores said, looking down at the vision. Agustin looked over at her, and nodded. “Yeah...” he breathed, then stared down at the happy version of the future. Mirabel shifted awkwardly, then asked, “Uh... do you know who that is?”

The other girl seemed so familiar. Agustin was sure that if the glass version and the human stood side by side he could tell you who it was. He stared at the long hair and dress that the figure wore, and pleaded with his mind to just let him know who...

“Isabela.” he said, the missing pieces of the puzzle fitting together. “It's Isabela!” His other daughter. Mirabel's sister! That was great! He looked over at Mirabel, who wore a confused expression.

“What's so special about Isabela that would do anything if I hugged her?” Mirabel asked, sounding genuinely curious. Agustin shrugged, then offered, “Maybe its the reunification of you and your family? I mean, you spent today with Luisa... If you get close to your other sister...”Mirabel flinched. Noticeably. And Agustin once again found the urge to punch Bruno in the face. Mirabel hadn't known about her sisters. Well, she had obviously known about Isabela and Luisa, she just never knew they were her sisters.

But Mirabel seemed to recover from her shock quickly. “I would love to hug Isabela!” She said happily. “Let's go do that now!”

Dolores nodded, and Agustin found himself feeling a little confused. Mirabel was already walking through the door before Agustin could really recover from what she had said. Luckily Dolores grabbed her hand before she did something rash.

“Mirabel, uh... Isabela's... Not talking to people right now.” Dolores said. “She's... Well... Yesterday... when you came back... You interrupted and stopped her engagement.”

Mirabel blinked at Dolores, then she looked up at Agustin. “I stopped her engagement?” she asked, and Agustin found himself nodding. A sad look came onto Mirabel's face, but was quickly replaced by happiness. “Maybe I just need to apologize! Maybe the magic's hurting because Isabela is hurt!”

It was a fair point, but it couldn't be true. That didn't make any sense. Sure, Isabela liked Mariano, but she wouldn't be upset before the proposal was ruined. It didn't add up.

Before he knew if he was following Mirabel and Dolores out of the nursery.

How did he keep ending up in situations like this?

“...Hey Mirabel, it's okay. It's not your fault...”

“...Isabela's doorknob grew thorns when I touched it and she yelled at me and told me to 'go away'...”

“...Isa just gets that way sometimes... she'll come around eventually...”

Felix heard his eldest talking with her youngest cousin. No matter who's daughter Mirabel said or thought she was, she was still the youngest of Dolores's cousins. Felix found himself not really... caring if Mirabel thought that Bruno was her dad. Goodness knows the man was good with kids, and he deserved to have one.

Might have gone a little too far with the whole 'kidnapping' thing though.

Felix might not have Dolores's gift of magic hearing, but he did have heightened senses when it came to noises. Growing up in as quiet a house as he did, you either listened very well, or didn't hear a thing at all.

That was why he had left. Why he had first started liking Pepa. Pepa was never afraid to be loud when it came to her emotions and thoughts. Felix craved that. So he found it quite fitting when Dolores had gotten her gift.

Wished that her gift came with an off button. He would gladly trade his ears for hers if he could, just to give his little girl a break.

But there he was, listening to a conversation he probably shouldn't have. He was so happy to see Dolores becoming friends with Mirabel. She didn't have many, and with Isabela getting engaged to Mariano... Let's just say that the whole 'five babies' thing was a good reason for Dolores to not want to hear Isabela right then.

Speaking of Isabela...

“Dad? If you want to talk you can open the door.” Miercoles. Felix hadn't meant to eavesdrop on the two of them... but since he was now invited into the conversation... He opened the nursery door, and saw Dolores and Mirabel sitting on the bed, Mirabel cradling her right hand in her left.

He smiled at the two of them, then said, “Hey... Just wanted to know what you were up to...” Dolores smiled, then said, “We just wanted to visit Isabela. Mirabel wanted to apologize.” Felix laughed, then asked, “For what?”

“Oh, just ruining her proposal.” Mirabel answered. She didn't seem to be too sorry for it, but she looked up at Felix and added, “I didn't know it was happening... I just wanted her to know that I'm sorry.”

A joke that Pepa would not like popped into Felix's brain, and he said it without thinking. “I guess you get that from your Papá. He always like ruining things that had to do with weddings.”

Dolores and Mirabel froze. Then Mirabel said slowly, “Because... he... ruined... yours?” Felix chuckled. “I like to say it made it interesting. Pepa was so worried that I wouldn't like her anymore. You should have seen her during the reception. She was so scared that I regretted marrying her.” Mirabel laughed a bit, then answered, “That seems like Tia Pepa. Papá always said she was an overthinker.” Felix nodded, and a starcrossed look covered his face. “Yeah...” he said dreamily. Just thinking of Pepa was enough to take his mind back to when they had first fallen in...

“Tio Felix? Hello?” Mirabel was waving a hand in front of his face. “Oh. Yeah. Like I was saying,” Felix said, snapping back to reality. “But ours isn't the only Madrigal wedding he 'ruined',” He extenuated 'ruined' by adding quotations with his fingers. “At Julieta's and Agustin's, he had the nerve to,” he dropped his voice to a low whisper and said, “Walk her down the aisle.”

Mirabel blinked at him, then said, “Uh... And that... ruined the wedding?” Felix laughed. “Well, Abuela seemed to think so! She wouldn't speak to him for weeks! In fact... I don't remember them speaking that much at all after that...”

That wasn't true. They'd argue now and then. About minuscule things. It always seemed like Bruno was picking the fight, and he'd always be so flimsy afterward. Nothing he said was ever taken to heart, nothing was ever changed. It was like he was rubbing salt over a scab. He was trying to change something, but never got at what it was. Felix hadn't been sorry to have their arguments taken out of his life. He just wished that his brother-in-law and niece hadn't gone with them.

Mirabel seemed saddened by his statement, so he changed the subject. “Anyway... Sobrina! Last I saw you you were Antonio sized! How have you been? Where did you live? What was it like living with Señor Ratos? He was a good Papá was he not? Not as good as me, but a close second no doubt.”

For a moment Mirabel just sat there, then she seemed to relax as she took in what Felix had said. Something in her seemed to be more comfortable than before.

“Well... Life has been good... So I've been good. I live just on the other side of the mountains with Papá, by a river... Papá's a good Papá. Not that I really have anyone to compare with him. Besides Agustin, but I just met him. It's weird to think that... That he's not my real Papá.”

Felix scoffed. “Of course he's your real Papá. He's the guy who raised you! It's completely normal for you to think of him like that. I was raised by my uncle you know. My own Papá died like Abuelo Pedro did... But he didn't give us magic.”

Mirabel's eyes flew to Felix's. He knew that he had struck a chord. She had a light in her eyes that Felix knew, and was extremely happy to see. Felix had now made a bond with Mirabel that the other adults hadn't yet, besides maybe Julieta. Felix saw her, and didn't need her to change immediately.

“Wow...” she breathed, and then glanced at Dolores. “That makes me feel better...”

Dolores nodded, her eyes glued to Felix's face. Felix didn't talk about his family much. He had left them behind when he moved to the Encanto. But she knew most of the story. Felix was more open to talk about what life was like outside the Encanto than Abuela, but he was still reserved. It was the only thing he held back.

The three of them stayed in the room, talking long into the night.