the-sisters-madrigal - Tumblr blog

the-sisters-madrigal · 8 months

Note

t it's not even that noticeable, just maybe a handshake that lasts a touch too long or someone standing a couple inches too close, and so it's not anything major, and if course in that situation she'd probably want to believe that it doesn't mean anything, so she keeps her mouth shut and- okay yeah I've thought about this. Sorry for rambling, I just... *gestures vaguely* This story of thing is... an element that interests me, you know? argh that still sounds weird!

A/N: Don't worry! You don't sound weird at all! I just finished this request finally, and I'm sorry that it took me so long to do it! Life's been crazy and inspiration has hopped from fandom to fandom 🥴

I hope you enjoy this one! I really enjoyed writing it! 💖💖💖

Word Count: 4.7k+

The last thing Isabela had really been planning to do today was quite literally run into someone.

But she had been in a hurry that morning. Pepa had been less than perfectly agreeable, and Abuela had said that someone needed to fetch her some chocolate or some sort of comfort food to help calm her. Since Luisa had gone into town to do chores already and Mirabel had been preoccupied doing something with their mother, Isabela had offered to do it.

Which brought her to where she was now.

“Oh, I am so sorry! I didn’t mean to bump into you!” Isabela apologized despite the fact she was feeling some amount of irritation at the man for not looking where he was going. She had her hands full with chocolate and had been looking inside of the bag to make sure she had gotten everything she needed, so she could not exactly be held responsible for looking out for foot traffic.

“Oh, no, Señorita, I apologize for bumping into you,” he returned the apology as he bent down to help her pick up her bag. She took it from him, aiming to start back toward Casita since the confrontation was over and conflict was successfully avoided. However, he stopped her.

“Hola, I’m Julio. I’m new in town,” he introduced. Isabela blinked but smiled nevertheless, extending her hand to meet his and shake it kindly.

“Hola, I’m—”

“No need to introduce yourself. I know who you are,” he interrupted, his eyes half-lidded and a smirk underneath his mustache as he eyed her.

“Oh, yes, I guess you probably would. My family has a reputation around here,” Isabela conceded, unable to help the slight discomfort as she realized he still had not released her hand. She was stricken with the sudden desire to rip her hand away, but she pushed that down, figuring he would release her in a few moments.

“No, I heard about you upon your own merit. Your beauty is beyond breathtaking, and those vines,” he practically purred, his voice lowering as he seemed to move onto a completely different train of thought.

Isabela laughed somewhat uncomfortably as she finally decided to gingerly pull her hand back under the guise of brushing a hand through her hair. She was not sure what to make of him, but he was leaving her less than perfectly at ease.

“Thank you, but trust me, my family is full of breathtaking people that are much better than me. They’re amazingly talented,” Isabela tried to redirect him on a different track that was nothing to do with she herself.

However, he still seemed to be staring at her with far too much interest. Isabela could not help but notice how his gaze kept dipping down just a little too far for her liking.

Isabela swallowed, infinitely thankful that she was not wearing a lower-cut dress.

“Do you think you could possibly show me some of those vines?” he asked, trying to pull off something that he must have thought was suave.

Isabela instantly saw the slightly darker and lustful glint in his eyes and she instantly knew that he definitely had some sort of an obsession with the vines in a manner that definitely was outside of what was acceptable. Isabela laughed once more, not sure what in the world else to do.

Thankfully, before she had to answer that question, she heard a familiar voice speak up behind her.

“Hey, sis, this guy bothering you?” Luisa asked, that strong yet gentle voice speaking up steadfastly behind her. Isabela did not think that she had ever been so thankful in her life to hear Luisa.

He instantly backed away a little, seemingly taking in the sheer size of Luisa and deciding that he was not even going to try to speak to Isabela with her around.

“Oh, no, I was just introducing myself,” he assured Luisa, and Isabela could feel Luisa’s arm brush softly against her own as she towered behind her and over the both of them.

“Yes, um… He was just… introducing himself,” Isabela confessed, trailing off a little as she looked at him and decided to go along with his statement for the sake of simplicity. After all, she might have just been looking into all of this too much and she could be overreacting.

She glanced up at Luisa as she spoke, and she noticed Luisa’s slightly narrowed eyes and furrowed brow. Ultimately, if one did not know she was one of the most softspoken, tender-hearted people in the Encanto, one would assume that she might be in the mood to pummel someone.

“Well, it was good meeting you. I must be going, but hopefully we will meet again,” he spoke, managing to gain enough confidence to speak to her again since Luisa had not really spoken or tried to threaten him as he had apparently been afraid she would.

As he was hurrying away, Luisa’s hand softly squeezed Isabela’s shoulder.

“I saw he was making you uncomfortable. I could hear you fake-laughing all the way through the alley,” Luisa told her, and Isabela did not say anything, just watching him leave as she remained terribly perplexed about the entire situation.

Despite the fact that Isabela was more outspoken about her feelings nowadays, she still tried to be as kind to the villagers as she could despite it all. Old habits die hard, and even when people like this guy bothered her and were almost creepy, she still knew better than to actually act outrightly against them.

Granted, if such things were to do with her two younger sisters, she would have no qualms about tearing in vines-first and hanging the harasser by their toe, but given the fact that it was she herself, she pushed those urges aside in favor of being the level-headed Isabela that everyone in town knew.

But she still was just not entirely sure if she was being paranoid or not. She did not want to falsely accuse someone, after all. Even if they did seem shady at best.

“You okay?”

Isabela was quickly drawn from her thoughts, and she snapped out of it quickly, turning her attention to Luisa more fully as she shook her head.

“Yeah— yes. I’m fine. Don’t worry about me, Lu,” Isabela assured her, a gentleness in her tone as she addressed her. Luisa still looked a little concerned, but before she could speak, someone from the other side of the street started to call her over for her help. Luisa looked in their direction before swiftly turning back to glance at Isabela.

“Are you sure?”

“Yes. Now go get to work. Your público awaits,” Isabela shooed her away, making a slight joke. She earned a small huff out of her younger sister, but Luisa still looked at her skeptically as she finally walked away. Isabela waved to her, sending her off.

As soon as Luisa was preoccupied, Isabela let out a soft sigh. She looked around the area surrounding her, trying to make sure the guy was not around before she started to head in a different direction than she had seen him go.

Maybe that was the last she would see of him or at least the last that she would have to handle his creepy ways.

If only she knew…

………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Throughout the week, she swiftly started to notice that the guy seemed to be following her. He was mysteriously popping up everywhere throughout town, and it was always in places that Isabela had to be.

Isabela had grown quite uncomfortable, but so far, she had done a mostly good job of steering a wide berth around him, and if all else failed, she would take time to see Luisa when she spotted her working in order to deter him from coming to actually speak to her or try anything else. Luisa seemed to be the only thing keeping him at bay when it came to her.

It was evident that he must have simply viewed Luisa for her outward appearance, because if he had observed her as he had been watching Isabela, he would have quickly figured out that Luisa was not too threatening despite her size and strength. Nevertheless, Isabela was definitely not complaining.

However, as wonderful of a buffer as Luisa had been, the unfortunate part was that just when Isabela needed her most, Luisa happened to be on the opposite side of town.

“So we meet again,” he pointed out, and Isabela forced a smile on her face as she turned to face him.

Despite the fact that she was being nice, she did not put a ton of effort into trying to look overly friendly as she had at their last meeting. She was really getting tired of seeing his face around town everywhere she went and some part of her was hoping that perhaps a slight lack of enthusiasm would diminish a bit of this weirdness he had about her.

It was not that Isabela could not stand up for herself, but she did not want to cause trouble when it was really more of a her-problem. This did not exactly directly affect anyone else and as long as he kept his hands to himself, she figured that she should handle it calmly and without too much fuss.

“Yes. I suppose we do,” Isabela agreed somewhat awkwardly, wishing that Luisa would show up again since she was the only person that even knew of this guy’s existence.

Granted, Luisa did not know the extent to which this guy was being creepy, but she had seen him the other day when Isabela had spoken to him. So, ultimately, she was aware enough of his ways to come and interfere if she saw him speaking to Isabela again.

“And let me say, I’ve noticed how incredibly good you are with the kids here. You actually seem to spend more time with the kids than the townspeople.”

“Well, kids are the ones that want flowers most often, so I do what’s needed.”

“I bet you do…”

“What do you say we go for a little walk? Maybe you could show me a little of that special gift of yours,” he told her, drawing nearer as he grew uncomfortably close. His voice had dropped a few octaves, and his eyes were filled with a certain desirous determination.

Isabela stiffened, freezing up just a bit as she wracked her brain for a polite response and some manner of an excuse.

However, she was soon saved by the bell not for the first time that week.

“Hiya, I don’t think we’ve met. I’m Mirabel, Isabela’s youngest sister,” Mirabel’s voice suddenly piped up as she poked her head around Isabela’s arm, her eyes locked on the guy before Isabela that had gotten just a bit too close.

He backed up a little, looking at her in surprise, and Mirabel moved so that she was standing next to Isabela.

“Hola… Umm, me and your hermana were just talking, so,” he tried to tell Mirabel, not so subtly cuing her to leave them alone.

Isabela was honestly not worried about that happening, though. She could read the stubbornness and determination in Mirabel’s stance as she stood next to her, and she knew that Mirabel must have understood enough about the situation to recognize the need for interference that Isabela could not do herself.

“Oh, you guys were talking? That’s so cool, because I love talking. Talking’s my favorite. By the way, what’s your name?” Mirabel kept talking in a constant ramble as she came closer to him, moving more so that she was in front of Isabela.

Isabela almost laughed at the look on the creep’s face as Mirabel just plowed right through, hardly giving him a chance to reply with his name before continuing on.

“Julio… That’s crazy. Our mom’s name is Julieta, so that’s crazy. It’s almost the exact same but like a girl and guy version,” Mirabel stated, moving nearer. He instantly started stepping back to move away from her a little.

“So are you like an uncle we didn’t hear of? We had an uncle that disappeared for years. His name’s Bruno. You might have seen him around town. Always has a rat on his shoulder?” Mirabel asked, gesturing to her shoulder for emphasis, and the man shook his head, not knowing how to respond as he looked longingly at Isabela.

“I’m afraid I haven’t—”

“Oh, that’s fine. Bruno’s the best, though, so you should totally meet him. Hey, you should meet the whole family. Our aunt’s awesome, but she has a tendency to start literal tornadoes and stuff when she’s stressed or mad, but don’t worry, I’m sure she’ll love you,” Mirabel continued to babble on, and he instantly looked nervous as he continued backing away and Mirabel kept following him as she moved closer and kept up her ongoing conversation.

Isabela was about to laugh, but she did her best not to because she did not want to give him any encouragement to stay. However, after Mirabel had successfully talked his ears off within the first three minutes of knowing him, he probably would not stay even if Isabela would have asked him to.

“Oh, no, that’s quite alright. I’ve got to be going anyways—”

“So soon?!”

“Yes, yes, I’m very busy—”

“Well, hey, I get that. Don’t be a stranger! Feel free to come and visit and see our whole family. They might be capable of creating tornadoes, shapeshifting, hearing everything, and crushing boulders, but they’re really a super sweet bunch!” Mirabel assured him as he turned and left the scene quickly.

Mirabel waved to him excitedly.

“See you around, amigo!” she called.

Once he was out of the line of sight, she turned back toward Isabela with self-satisfaction written in her features, a smile tugging at the corners of her lips. Isabela allowed herself a laugh, and Mirabel puffed up a little more, pride evident in her every move despite the glint in her eye that indicated her suspiciousness.

“You are aware that you did actually get a gift, right?” Isabela questioned with a grin, trying to throw Mirabel a little off of her track.

Mirabel instantly looked at her in complete confusion, her smile fading away as she stared at Isabela and tried to figure out what she was talking about.

“What?”

“You’ve got the gift of gab,” Isabela replied, and Mirabel instantly narrowed her eyes playfully at her, scoffing.

“You’re hilarious,” Mirabel sarcastically shot back. Isabela allowed herself a bit of a hair flip.

“I know,” Isabela tried to remain upbeat, confident, and playful as she generally was with Mirabel these days.

After all, she knew Mirabel was a tad more stubborn than Luisa was, so if she actually acted like something was wrong, Mirabel would push to find out what was really going on and Isabela would have to admit that this guy had been bothering her.

At this point, she was a little embarrassed to let anyone know that she had let this go on for so long. She also did not really want Mirabel or Luisa to go to any trouble on her behalf. She was the oldest sister, and she should be able to take care of herself.

More than that, though, after all the trouble she had put her two younger sisters through, she did not want them to have to protect her from this. It was her job to do that for them now since she had most of Mirabel and Luisa’s life to make up for.

“What’s up with the guy?” Mirabel asked, as shrewd and quick on the uptake as ever. Isabela just shrugged a little.

“I don’t know. He’s new around, and I think he’s just a little smitten with our family and the gifts,” Isabela replied simply, trying her best to muster nonchalance.

It was not entirely a lie. He was smitten with the family and the gifts. It just happened to be that it was not so much the rest of the family and that it was mostly her being the primary object of that obsession.

Mirabel did not seem to be entirely buying it, and Isabela efforted to keep her face as calm as it would be normally. She knew that if she forced a smile or any sort of extreme emotion, Mirabel would somehow know it was fake and resolve to get to the bottom of it all.

“He really seemed to like you,” Mirabel pointed out astutely, and Isabela shrugged.

“It’s probably just a crush. Who knows?” Isabela tried to play it off, and Mirabel looked at her for a long moment.

Feeling the pressure of her youngest sister’s insistent gaze, Isabela let out a soft breath, looking around as she desperately tried to spot any sort of a distraction.

She soon spotted a group of little girls that she had promised to grow flowers for so that they could put them in their hair, and she felt relief wash over her. She looked back at Mirabel, offering her as genuine of a smile as she could manage.

“I almost forgot. I’ve got to go over here and grow these girls some flowers. I’ll see you later, mariposa,” Isabela told her, quickly excusing herself as she escaped the situation.

She honestly half-expected Mirabel to follow her, but to her surprise, she did not. Isabela took in a deep breath as she approached the kids, mustering a smile on her face.

It was probably just a crush like she told Mirabel. He would surely be over it by the end of this week.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………

As it turned out, he was definitely not over it by the end of the week.

It was during the afternoon when it all came to a head. She had made the decision to duck into an alleyway to try to escape the guy’s view and head home. She was doing her best to avoid confrontation because the last thing she wanted was to make a scene in front of the other townspeople.

Isabela was a lot different now than she had been before the fall of Casita, and the townspeople now had mixed feelings about her current identity. She did not want them to see her fighting a man and solidify the negative opinions of her and, by extension, of the family.

“You’re an elusive one, aren’t you?” his voice piped up, and Isabela instantly realized that he was behind her.

It was also about that time that she realized the gate at the end of the alleyway was shut and locked.

She had successfully trapped herself in an alleyway with this guy.

She swallowed, readying herself to fight in any way she had to in order to escape this situation. At this point, it did not matter so much what the townspeople thought. She wanted to avoid a fight if she could, but she was not above doing what she absolutely had to.

“Listen, you have been following me and watching me all week, and it’s honestly starting to get insanely creepy, so can you please stop?” Isabela told him, her voice firm as she lost all pretenses of niceties.

He raised his eyebrows at her.

“Wow… You have a fiery side. I like it. Of course, I knew that you could not always be pure grace in every moment,” he stated as he came closer. Isabela straightened a little, preparing herself as the nerves balled up inside of her.

“Just let me pass by. I’ve got to go home,” Isabela informed him firmly, starting to try to move around him. He held out an arm, blocking her path, and she backed up, trying to keep him from putting his hands on her.

“Going so soon? We have hardly had a chance to talk this week, and I would love to get to know you better,” he stated, moving increasingly nearer.

“I’m sorry to say the feeling’s not mutual. Now. Move out of my way,” Isabela warned, growing increasingly agitated as she looked at him.

“Or?” he questioned, almost looking amused.

Isabela narrowed her eyes, having about all that she could stand of this man and his frustrating ways. Vines grew near her, launching upward as they prepared to string him up by his legs and move him out of her way.

However, taking her off-guard, he suddenly smirked.

“Oh, yeah, show me what exactly those vines can do,” he flirtatiously encouraged, and she instantly stopped, the vines disappearing as she drew back in utter disgust.

She could hardly even bring herself to put her vines near him after his disgusting, twisted obsession with them. It felt like she was being violated despite the vines not actually being something necessarily attached to her in the way of a body part.

He stepped closer to her, his hands reaching out for her, and panic was controlling her every thought as she almost froze, never having encountered anything like this before. She had been fawned over throughout her life, but not to the point that someone was trying to assault her or lay their hands on her.

However, before she could fully comprehend what was happening, he suddenly was lifted into the air. He let out a startled yelp, and Isabela’s eyes widened as she took in the sight before her.

To Isabela’s absolute surprise, it was Luisa.

She had grabbed the man and was holding him upside down by his leg. She lifted him up so that he met her eyes and while she did not seem like she was going to necessarily do him any harm, she did have a resolved look in her eyes that was not quite characteristic of her.

Luisa lowered him down to Mirabel’s eye level, and she looked him right in the eyes with a fierceness that strangely stirred some sense of pride within her.

“If I see you bothering my sister again, I will have Luisa here crush you like a grape,” Mirabel warned, dead seriousness in her voice.

While Isabela knew that Luisa would never do that, he did not seem to be aware of that at all as he gaped at her with comically wide eyes. Luisa even seemed to be a bit shocked at Mirabel’s words, and she almost seemed as if she were considering saying something to lessen the severity of the statement when Mirabel interrupted once more.

“And if she doesn’t do the job, I can personally guarantee that I and the rest of our family will make your life absolute and complete torture,” Mirabel promised, and he seemed to believe her completely as he stared at her with utter horror.

“Are we clear on what you’re going to do?”

“Si, si, I will not speak to her again,” he promised, his voice shaking and quick as Mirabel made her threats. Mirabel looked at him for a long moment before nodding to Luisa.

“Let him go,” Mirabel nodded her head, and Luisa dropped him down a little further before letting go of him and allowing him to fall onto the ground.

“See you later, amigo,” Mirabel told him, her voice completely dead and devoid of emotion as he scurried off and away.

As soon as he was gone, Mirabel looked at Isabela carefully, her gaze shifting quickly as she inspected her. Luisa stepped closer as well, her soft eyes offering Isabela a onceover.

Isabela flashed her a gentle glance, assuring her she was okay. Catching the expression, Mirabel seemed satisfied with her search, and she then looked terribly unhappy.

“Have you lost your mind?! Isa, Luisa asked you if this guy was bothering you several days ago, and I checked on you, too, and you still didn’t say anything!” Mirabel instantly launched into fussing, and Isabela chose to ignore her complaints for the moment, directing her attentions to Luisa.

“How did you guys know I needed help?” Isabela asked, and Mirabel instantly looked less than impressed at Isabela’s obvious redirection. Luisa looked at her somewhat worriedly and sadly.

“Dolores heard you and told us,” Luisa softly answered, her voice quiet. Isabela could read the pleading in her gaze as she glanced between the youngest and oldest sisters, and Isabela instantly felt a pang of guilt.

“Now that that’s out of the way, why didn’t you say anything?!!!” Mirabel demanded not giving Isabela any more room to fight her. Isabela sighed deeply, looking down as she resigned herself to admitting the truth.

“Look, I had it under control, but—”

“You call almost being assaulted under control?!” Mirabel stopped her, not giving her time to speak.

“Listen,” Isabela insistently interrupted, her gaze meeting Mirabel’s in a soft warning as she tried to get the youngest to pay attention. Mirabel just let out a breath, but she quieted, seemingly waiting for Isabela to offer her own explanation for everything.

Isabela looked down at the ground before meeting her little sisters’ eyes.

“I didn’t want to bother you guys with this. I’m used to people bothering me or talking to me all the time, and while he was a little creepy, I thought I might be overreacting. It just sort of slowly got more and more weird and then he cornered me here,” Isabela explained, pausing for a moment as she thought it all over.

“And then I guess I figured out he was definitely a creep,” Isabela breathed, and Luisa and Mirabel just stared at her blankly for a moment. Luisa was the first to speak, albeit a short reply.

“Isa,” Luisa trailed off, sounding almost anguished as she eyed Isabela gently.

“If you would’ve told us, we could’ve helped you,” Mirabel expressed, her voice somewhat pained.

Isabela shook her head insistently.

“You two are my baby sisters. You’re not supposed to save me from everything,” Isabela told them.

“But we’re here for you,” Mirabel argued.

“Just like you’re here for us,” Luisa chimed in, those painfully soft mocha browns boring into Isabela’s own darker ones.

“But for most of our lives, I wasn’t there for either of you while both of you would have been there for me. I need to make up for lost time, and neither of you should have to help me. I’m here for you now.”

“Just because we’ve always been there for you even in the times that you weren’t for us doesn’t mean that we’re going to just abandon you,” Mirabel told her, and Isabela could not help the slight sting at the words despite the fact that they were true. Something about them being actually said out loud by Mirabel made her feel even more guilty than usual.

“We don’t have to take turns on who is there for who,” Mirabel added to her previous statement. Luisa nodded.

“We should all be there for each other always,” Luisa expressed, and Isabela looked at her carefully, her heart softening at the sight of her.

“And sometimes one of us is going to need more than the other two. And that’s okay, Isa. Just like you’ll be there for us, we just want to be there when you need us,” Mirabel reassured her, nothing but love in her words.

Isabela swallowed, feeling a lump in her throat that she was desperately trying to fight as she looked at her younger sisters. Her amazing, incredible, sweet, generous, forgiving younger sisters that she definitely would never deserve in this lifetime.

Isabela stepped closer, pulling Mirabel into a tight hug with one arm as she reached for Luisa and grabbed at her waist to pull her closer. Mirabel was quick to hug her firmly in return with one arm around Luisa as well, and Luisa stepped closer, one large arm wrapping around Isabela’s body and touching Mirabel’s arm while the other wrapped around Mirabel’s body.

“Gracias. Muchísimas gracias,” Isabela murmured.

“De nada, but we love you,” Mirabel stated, the words serving as a simple explanation and a rebuttal to why Isabela should not have to express her gratitude. Isabela nodded against them, her forehead pressed somewhere against Luisa’s stomach at this point.

“I know. That’s part of the reason for the thank you,” Isabela whispered, not trusting her voice right now.

Luisa’s arm tightened around her, and Mirabel’s swiftly followed suit.

“You don’t ever have to thank us for that.”

“We’ll always love you and be there for you, hermana.”

Isabela did not know how she had gotten so lucky, but she won the jackpot when it came to amazing siblings.

She had the best sisters in the world.

#isabela madrigal #mirabel madrigal #luisa madrigal #the madrigals #encanto #disney encanto #madrigals #fanfic #fic #fanfiction #encanto fanfic #encanto fic

9 notes · View notes

the-sisters-madrigal · 8 months

Note

Oooh! Can I request a drabble about Isabela talking to her plants?

A/N: Thank you so, so much for the request!

Whoo.... It's been a few since I've written for this fandom, lol. Honestly, it's been a few since I've written anything 😅💖 I've been super busy lately, but I'm trying to get back into this fandom.

I hope you enjoy! 💞

Word Count: 3.1k+

Mirabel had successfully managed to sneak through the house that the Guzmán’s had so generously allowed them to stay in since the fall and beginning of the rebuild of Casita, leaving her room as she made her way to Isabela’s with her nightgown flowing behind her.

She was hoping that her sister would be up for a bit of late-night discussion that evening. They had done that a few times so far, the two of them trying to get closer despite the thick tension that had been between them just a few weeks ago, and Isabela had always assured her that it was fine to just come over to talk anytime. So, Mirabel had finally gotten the courage to take her up on it, and she was on her way over.

As she sneaked past several rooms, she finally reached Isabela’s. She opened the door softly, deciding she would peek in to see if Isabela was still awake. To her happiness, there was candlelight coming from the room, and Mirabel smiled as she found renewed courage to go in.

Mirabel came through Isabela’s door, but as soon as she was about to softly call her, she spotted her on the bed. Quickly after that, she realized that Isabela was carrying on a conversation with someone.

“I know I haven’t talked to you about this in a while, and I truly just can’t talk to anybody else about it,” Isabela confessed, and Mirabel’s interest was instantly piqued as she wondered what in the world that Isabela could be discussing that was this delicate of a matter.

And so, despite the fact that she knew it was probably not the politest thing to do, Mirabel quieted, softly shutting the door behind her after hurrying over to hide behind the room divider nearby and figure out what Isabela was talking about.

“I know it’s selfish. I can’t bring myself to talk to the two people that this has to do with because I’m scared of what they’re going to say to me when it’s probably things that I deserve to hear,” Isabela groaned tiredly and sadly.

Isabela’s back was currently turned toward Mirabel, and Mirabel adjusted her glasses a bit as she tried to spot who exactly that Isabela was talking to.

She quickly realized that Isabela’s bed was lifted off the ground just a little, the bedsheets hanging over just barely to cover the crack between the floor and the bottom of the bed. Mirabel leaned down, figuring that she would try to see if she could see the feet of whoever was on the other side of the bed.

To her surprise, there were no feet besides Isabela’s where her legs were hanging over the side of the bed, and there were only several cactuses and other plants sitting near the bed in pots.

Mirabel quickly came to the conclusion that Isabela must be talking to her plants that she had gathered for herself since she lost her gift. Granted, that was not the strangest thing she had ever heard of since apparently talking to plants was supposed to make them grow better or something like that, but it was still a little odd to picture Isabela talking to things that could not talk back to her. Isabela always seemed like the sort of person to keep her conversations among people, but Mirabel could not deny that she found it strangely endearing and hilarious for her big sister to talk to her botanical pets.

“So like usual, it’s pretty much the same thing. Soul-crushing guilt that I deserve to have to feel all the time,” Isabela admitted, a certain exhaustion in her voice.

The lighthearted feelings that Mirabel had just experienced at the discovery of Isabela’s habit of talking to the plants completely dissipated as she blinked in surprise at the harsh words that Isabela directed toward herself.

Granted, as Mirabel had come to know her sister just a little better, she had realized that Isabela seemed to have a good dose of self-hatred that was utterly opposite of the way that Mirabel had originally perceived her to feel about herself in the past.

Mirabel always thought that Isabela was full of herself, and while it always had a tendency to come out that way, it was not actually the truth of what was going on. She had truly been insecure and terribly worried about being perfect all of the time, the pressure of it all had gotten to her and drove her to be a person that was oftentimes less than perfectly pleasant.

“I’ve been so awful to Mirabel. She was the person that I took all the frustration out on, and it wasn’t fair to her at all, and I know that I’ve talked about this a hundred times, but it’s something that I think about every single day that I look at her. I just can’t get all of those times out of my head,” Isabela acknowledged with a deep sigh.

Mirabel instantly felt her heart aching with the admission. While she had not really gotten a direct apology from Isabela, they were trying to look forward, or at least Mirabel had been trying to.

She supposed that Isabela just was not quite there yet.

There were a few moments of silence before Isabela spoke up again.

“Well, yeah, but… I’ve been an absolute jerk to her, and I just,” Isabela trailed off, seeming to be searching for the right words. Isabela was carrying on a full-on one-sided conversation with the plants at this point, and while the strangeness of it all did not escape Mirabel, she was completely unfocused on that fact in favor of listening to what Isabela had to say about her.

“Honestly sometimes I don’t know how to fix things between us. I feel like I’ve been the worst sister in the world and even though she says things are okay between us now, I think I’ll always feel that way,” Isabela said, her back still facing Mirabel.

Mirabel furrowed her brow as she remained hidden.

Isabela shook her head, rubbing at her face as she turned sideways on the bed so her feet were at the base of it and she laid down.

“Yeah, I know, don’t even get me started on Luisa. We used to be so close when we were kids, but after that whole thing with Mirabel’s ceremony and when Abuela really started cracking down on us, we grew apart and I practically abandoned her for years,” Isabela woefully admitted.

Mirabel felt her heart hurting even more, and she could not help the bit of guilt that swelled within her at the fact that it had been her failure of a ceremony that had caused all the misery. Nevertheless, Mirabel remained silent, almost afraid to interrupt Isabela’s one-sided discussion.

“The point to it all? Well, I guess I’m just really, really sorry. For all of the time we lost where we could’ve been true hermanas to one another and for the fact that it’s my fault it all happened that way,” Isabela confessed.

“Abuela wanted me to be perfect in every way, focusing on my studies and on all the proper etiquette. But in the middle of all that, I forgot about being the perfect sister,” Isabela explained, and Mirabel felt her heart sinking as she listened to her sister speak.

“And I don’t think I’m ever going to forgive myself for that,” Isabela confessed, and Mirabel could see something shining glistening down Isabela’s cheek from where the candlelight was shining near the bed.

Mirabel instantly resolved to speak up and reveal herself. Seeing her big sister cry hurt her too much to simply sit by and continue to listen.

“Isa?” Mirabel called hesitantly. Instantly, Isabela shot up in bed, her eyes wide as she looked in Mirabel’s direction. As she spotted her, she quickly turned her head away, subtly wiping at her eyes before looking back at her with a definitively fake smile.

“Hey, Mirabel, come in,” Isabela softly welcomed her, and Mirabel came over to her. She was unable to hold back the absolute sadness radiating within her on behalf of her older sister, and it evidently showed on her face because Isabela’s smile quickly faltered.

“How long have you been here?” Isabela asked, seeming terribly hesitant to even utter the words. Mirabel smiled in a manner that was somewhere between nervousness and sheepishness.

“Just for a few… Who were you talking to?” Mirabel questioned, trying to redirect her older sister from the fact that she had been there eavesdropping for most of the conversation. Isabela offered her a glance that was slightly suspicious, but she ultimately just sighed and allowed Mirabel her distraction.

Mirabel was honestly surprised at the fact that she had allowed the slight change of course. Isabela was usually one to call Mirabel on the carpet about things like that and ordinarily, if she suspected eavesdropping, she would have said something for sure.

“I was just talking to my plants,” Isabela confessed, gesturing to the potted plants on the other side of the bed.

Mirabel stepped a bit closer, craning her neck to get a better look. Sure enough, it was just as she had spotted earlier.

Trying her best to remain as merciful as possible, Mirabel refrained from picking on her about it for the time being. After all, she had to focus on Isabela and all of the pent-up feelings that she had.

“I call it floratherapy,” Isabela somewhat wryly stated, a bit of embarrassment showing itself in her cheeks as she kept her eyes largely focused on the bed instead of on Mirabel’s own gaze.

Mirabel swallowed, trying to muster the courage to make a joke despite Isabela’s seeming misery and humiliation.

“Is that in the same neighborhood as aromatherapy?” Mirabel questioned jokingly, hoping to earn at least a bit of something happy from her big sister.

Isabela chuckled just a little despite the definitive sadness in her gaze. Mirabel just barely came closer to the bed, hesitating as she remained reluctant to up and jump onto it with Isabela.

Isabela, seeming to realize what Mirabel was subtly asking, patted the bed quickly without hesitation. Mirabel moved onto the bed, and she quickly noticed the flash of guilt in Isabela’s gaze. She could only imagine what was going through her sister’s head at the moment, so she did not push for any sort of an insight on her thoughts.

“Were you listening?” Isabela finally questioned.

There it was. That inevitable calling out that Mirabel had been waiting for earlier.

Mirabel nodded, an apology instantly on her tongue.

“Lo siento… I promise I didn’t mean to. I wanted to come in here and talk to you and when I came in, I kind of just walked in when you were in the middle of it, so I sort of got caught up listening,” Mirabel rambled, the end of her explanation finishing off with the lilt of a question as she trailed off.

Isabela sighed softly, and to Mirabel’s surprise, she did not even seem to be aggravated at the admission. She instead simply looked defeated and forlorn, and Mirabel found that she would almost rather Isabela to be aggravated because this was so unnatural for her.

There was dead silence for a few moments, and there were no words in the space between the both of them. Mirabel was torn about whether she should interrupt the silence or not, but just as she was about to speak, Isabela filled the silence with the gentlest of words.

“I’ve been awful to you for all of our lives… And even though everything’s supposed to be okay now, I still hate myself for what I did to you,” Isabela told her, and Mirabel shook her head, trying to slow Isabela down a little in the midst of this raging storm of guilt.

“Isa, you don’t have to be—”

“I do. I do have to be,” Isabela spoke up, her voice just a little louder than the low tone she had a moment ago. Desperation was showing itself in the sound of her voice as she looked at Mirabel pleadingly, her eyes searching Mirabel’s.

“I wasn’t a perfect sister to you. I wasn’t even a good one. And I look back at all the things I said out of frustration and anger and jealousy,” Isabela stopped abruptly as she seemed to be somewhere between trying to think of what to say next and reveling a little in the feelings that she just admitted to.

Mirabel stared at her, surprised at the mention of Isabela being jealous. Isabela was a lot of things, but to think of her being jealous was an extremely odd thought.

“You were jealous?” Mirabel could not help but ask, and Isabela quickly shut her mouth, clenching her jaw a bit as she looked away for a brief moment. She then looked down at the bed underneath them.

“I was,” Isabela whispered, her voice painfully quiet as she looked as if she were going to melt into a puddle. Mirabel could see the clear embarrassment in her eyes, and she knew that it must have been taking a lot for Isabela to admit to all of these less than perfect emotions.

For Isabela to talk about her emotions at all was something odd and new to them. However, Isabela had been trying to do better with that since they had started to reconnect and since they had been having these talks at night, and it was something that Mirabel greatly appreciated. Any insight she could gain regarding her oldest sister was always extremely helpful to her. Plus, it was just nice to understand Isabela and grow closer with her as a result of that.

However, at the moment, Mirabel was positively reeling from Isabela’s words. Jealousy was the furthest thing from her mind when she pictured Isabela. Isabela was self-confident and graceful, and Mirabel was only just recently starting to figure out the real Isabela underneath the shining veneer of perfection.

“Why?” Mirabel asked, complete shock still running through her. Isabela closed her eyes before reopening them and tentatively trying to raise her gaze to at least look at the bottom half of Mirabel’s face. She did not seem to quite have the courage to look into her eyes.

“Because you were free. Freer than I ever could be and ever was. I was jealous because you didn’t have to constantly worry about whether or not you were doing things right. Everybody expected you to make mistakes so you were free to make them whenever,” Isabela explained. Mirabel could not help the slight sting she felt at the last statement.

To her surprise, Isabela seemed to instantly read her emotions as she stiffened and dropped her face into her hands.

“Lo siento, I didn’t mean it like that,” Isabela’s muffled voice came from between her fingers after a few moments. Mirabel nodded despite the fact that Isabela was not looking at her and could not see her from where she had hidden her face.

“I know,” Mirabel replied, trying to move the conversation past the slight hurt she felt and instead on the bigger problem at hand. Isabela woefully let her hands fall away from her face.

“I just meant you didn’t have to worry about one screw-up causing the family’s legacy to come crashing down because you didn’t have all of that pressure to be perfect all the time,” Isabela clarified tiredly.

Recovering from the slight injury from earlier, Mirabel simply looked at her carefully, wordlessly trying to bring her oldest sister’s gaze to her own.

When Isabela still would not look at her, Mirabel softly touched her shoulder. Isabela instantly glanced in the direction of the touch, but Mirabel did not remove her hand, figuring that Isabela would shrug it off if she did not want her to touch her right now.

However, Isabela made no such move.

“You shouldn’t have had to worry about it either,” Mirabel acknowledged, and Isabela made a faced something close to a grimace as she looked at Mirabel just momentarily.

“I did, though. Abuela made me feel like it all depended on me so often, and I know that sounds selfish, but,” Isabela paused with a sigh, seemingly attempting to think through how to say the words in her mind, “I felt that way because she put so much faith in me and what I was going to bring to the family because of the marriage.”

Mirabel just watched her, and Isabela looked at Mirabel once more.

“Lo siento, mariposa. Lo siento mucho,” Isabela emphasized, the apology soft yet fervent in its tone.

Mirabel was utterly shocked at the words, and she was instantly taken aback. Mirabel blinked, her mouth going dry as she completely found herself at a loss for words.

The last thing that Mirabel had expected Isabela to do was apologize. Isabela was not an apologetic sort of person, and her pride was one of her primary characteristics. Mirabel had honestly been prepared to accept Isabela’s attempts at being more friendly and sisterly as an apology in itself, but to hear the actual words brought some amount of closure and relief to her that she had not fully realized that she needed.

Once Mirabel got past a little of the shock, she realized that there was utter terror in Isabela’s eyes, and she was now especially stiff. Mirabel instantly knew that she thought Mirabel was not going to accept the apology, and the youngest sister instantly spoke up.

“Isa… That’s… Gracias,” Mirabel expressed, not sure what to say but trying to come up with something to bring some amount of reassurance to her. Isabela’s eyes shifted to meet Mirabel’s gaze. There was surprise, hope, and guilt rolled all into one as she eyed the girl.

Mirabel swallowed, really wanting to hug Isabela but not exactly sure how to ask for it. She was not entirely sure if Isabela would be up for it, but she figured she might try. She needed to do something to make Isabela feel better and to express Mirabel’s own relief and love.

Isabela did not seem to catch on to Mirabel’s intent despite her ability to read people, her eyes simply remaining slightly widened and staring at Mirabel. Therefore, Mirabel finally squeezed her shoulder a little, taking in a breath before going for it.

Isabela froze as Mirabel hugged her. For several moments, Mirabel’s arms were around Isabela and Isabela was not doing anything. Fearing that she had overstepped a little, Mirabel started to pull back.

However, before she could move away, Isabela latched on, her arms warmly coming around Mirabel as she hugged her tightly. Mirabel stopped before sinking into her a little more heavily. She shut her eyes tightly, reveling in the feel of her oldest sister’s arms around her.

“Te quiero,” Mirabel told her.

“Yo… Yo también te quiero,” Isabela hesitantly whispered in reply.

They were moving forward. Or at least Mirabel was.

And now maybe Isabela finally could, too.

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