At Last

~Four years later~

Four years. It took you about four years to adapt to the surrounding environment. Actually, you considered yourself to have become one with nature at this point in time.

Not only because you're able to control and manipulate the four elements. But because of your parents' abandonment, that left you to fend for yourself.

Over the past four years, you suffered and had to tolerate so much. The unpleasant weather, wild animals, limited food resources, and so forth.

But the one main thing that tormented your mind were the deaths of your beloved parents. Every single tedious day and night brought you excruciating pain.

Pain that would sometimes subside, but would never leave. You often found yourself near lakes or rivers, or any body of water, to allay your persistent thoughts.

Taking several minutes out of your day, you'd sit near the edge of a lake or river, manipulating a ball of water. Although it was only minutes, it felt as if hours had passed by. Many prolonged, boring hours...

But all this practice allowed for you to manipulate water with ease.

Soon enough, you grew uninterested in activities involving water. So you diverted your focus and practice the other elements.

And after learning that element, you'd move onto another element and so on... until you ran out of elements to practice.

And in time, you had mastered the forms and techniques of each element. It wasn't so hard. It only took you about four years to understand, practice, and get the hang of.

Alas, there was nothing you could do that would relieve your mind of the horrid and terrifying memory. Ameliorating your powers wasn't the only thing you did, though.

You've also spent these four years searching for the Colombian village of Encanto. That was where these 'Madrigals' lived.

But in those four years, you've had no luck.

You began to think that you'd never be successful in finding them. That you'd be stuck in the wilderness forever.

~~~

~Present~

A few air bubbles escaped your nose, and mouth as your body furthered from the surface. The pressure of the cold, calm water hugged your body not too tight, but in a more comforting manner.

The immeasurable sense of peace you felt was unreal. You hadn't felt like this in so long. Your stress and anxiety seemed to have disappeared, leaving your body and mind at peace. The water became numbing as you strayed farther from the surface.

If possible, you'd choose to stay underwater forever, never wanting to come up for air. You'd remain stress and anxiety free and there wouldn't be a thought in the world that would haunt your mind. It would be only you and the water to keep you company.

It was when you ran out of oxygen in your lungs and snorted the water by mistake that you surfaced for air.

"Ay, Dios mío!" You coughed, your eyes tearing up at the burning sensation.

Paddling over to the edge of the lake, you took your time to recover after the incident. And after a while, the feeling went away, and you were back to normal.

"Sheesh..." You huffed, giving your body and hair one last cleanse before stepping out of the water.

Waving your hand, you collected all the water droplets and excess water from your body into a ball. Then, you dropped the ball of water, letting the dirt soak it up.

With another wave of your hand, a gust of wind appeared, sending a chill down your spine. And within several seconds, your hair and body were dry.

Taking your clothes that you had washed earlier, you put them on in a matter of seconds.

You grabbed your handmade satchel and wore it. You then stared at yourself in the water's reflection, flashing a smile. "Alright, then. Onwards." And with that, you continued your journey to Encanto.

As you trekked past trees and tall grass, your stomach made a sound. It continued to growl as if it were communicating with you, begging for some kind of nourishment.

Flipping open your satchel, you took out a wrapped up empanada. Some lovely townspeople had given you this, plus a few other resources.

It's been a couple of hours since the last time you came across that small village. You told the townspeople about your dilemma and they said you were going the right way. You only needed to continue going north. There, you'll find the village the Madrigal family lives in.

They were also kind enough to offer you some food for the journey, which you kindly accepted.

They never said how long it'd be until you arrived at the village, though, but who were you to complain? They gave you the directions and food, and for that, you were grateful.

It was almost sundown, and you continued heading north like the villagers said. You were curious about how close you actually were to the village, so you climbed the tallest tree near you.

You couldn't believe your eyes when you saw what you saw.

About half a mile ahead was the village of Encanto. After all these years, you finally made it.

Using your powers, you flew through the air. And with the lift of your hand, columns of earth arose from the ground, acting as steps for you.

Once you made it back down to the ground, you relaxed your hand, the columns of dirt returning to the earth.

You took a deep breath, letting the fact that you had finally made it to Encanto settle in.

Turning your head, you noticed how the sun was currently setting and you quickly went to go find where these Madrigals lived... which wasn't so hard.

Near the end of the village stood what you believed was "The Casa Madrigal," which was where they lived.

As you made your way toward the house, you gasped in awe at the mighty and vibrant dwelling. Fixing yourself, you tried to make yourself look presentable and went to knock on the door.

Walking up and onto the front step, you were about to knock on the door when the ground beneath your feet began to move. The door opened on its own and the ground pushed you inside the house.

"Whoa, hey!" You exclaimed, flailing your arms about as you tried to keep your balance.

You were about to fall onto the floor face first when a pair of arms caught you.

"You alright?" The voice laughed. It sounded familiar... a bit too familiar.

"Camilo, who is this?" An elderly and raucous sounding voice asked.

Finally regaining your balance, you stood up on your own two feet and looked up to see your savior. Examining your entire face, the boy looked at you with a quizzical expression.

"(Y/N)?..." He muttered in disbelief. You also stood there, not in disbelief, but in confusion.

"Remind me how I know you?" You asked, raising an eyebrow.

He laughed and placed his hands on your shoulders. "(Y/N), don't you remember? It's me, Camilo. Your childhood friend?"

You thought for a moment before finally remembering.

Now you were the one standing there in disbelief and you couldn't believe your eyes. "Camilo? Camilo Madrigal?" You asked.

It all started to make sense. Why his voice sounded familiar. Why the name sounded familiar.

He slicked his hair back as he comprehended and took it all in.

"It is you!" Camilo laughed, bringing you into a tight embrace.

"I-I never thought I would ever see you again." You mumbled, a look of hesitancy making its way onto your face as you returned the hug.

"Did someone say '(Y/N)'?" A voice from up on top of the stairs rang.

Looking up, you saw the one and only, Mirabel Madrigal.

"Mirabel?" You asked, the smile on your face growing.

"No way that's (Y/N)!" She exclaimed in disbelief.

The stairs turned into a ramp-like pathway for Mirabel to slide down. Reaching the bottom of the stairs, Camilo let go of the hug so Mirabel could hug you next.

"How've you been?" She asked, squeezing you in a tight hug.

"I've been well, I guess." Your voice strained, laughing through the tightness of the hug. "How about you? How have you been?"

"I'm even better now that you're here!" She replied.

Letting go from the hug, you turned to the side and saw the owner of the elderly voice, Abuela Alma.

"Hola, Abuela." You smiled, giving her a gentle hug, so you didn't hurt her fragile body.

She stared down at your figure, indecisive about whether she should hug back. You then felt her arms wrap around your body.

"It has been... so long, (Y/N)." Abuela said, returning the hug.

"Yeah, we all missed you!" Mirabel smiled, patting your back.

"How did you get here? Where are your parents?" Abuela asked you.

Your eyes widened, and you backed away from the hug. Nothing but a loud silence filled the air.

"(Y/N)?" Mirabel placed a hand on your shoulder.

Averting your eyes to the floor, you finally spoke. "My parents?" You managed to say, on the verge of tears.

"My parents are dead." You stated as a tear fell and dripped down your face.

Mirabel, Camilo, and Abuela all gasped softly.

"It was my fault..." You tried to explain through tears. "They died because of me. They were the ones that wanted to travel all this way because they thought you would know why I have powers. And then one night, it was raining, and it was dark and we couldn't see—and, and—"

"Shh, mi amor, come here." Abuela held out her arms, gesturing for you to come into her embrace.

She, too, had a look of dejection on her face. You accepted the hug as silent sobs racked your body. Mirabel and Camilo glanced at each other with sorrowful looks on their faces.

You were well aware that it's been a long time since they died. But you couldn't help but think about that moment and blame yourself for their deaths.

"No child should ever have to experience that. Such a terrible thing..." She whispered, caressing your head.

"Now, now. Don't cry, mija. Come, it's almost time for dinner." Abuela pulled away from the hug and wiped away your tears with her thumbs.

"Mirabel, Camilo, inform everyone that (Y/N) is here and to help set up dinner." She instructed.

"On it." Mirabel said, and Camilo nodded. They both went up the stairs to tell the others of the situation when they ran into Dolores.

"(Y/N)'s here. I know." She told them, making her way down the stairs.

Looking back at Dolores and then at each other, they exchanged glances and shrugged. Then they went their separate ways down the breezeway.

In the meantime, Abuela took you to the kitchen as they did that. Walking you over to the sink, she grabbed a clean kitchen towel. The sink then turned on by itself, which alarmed you, but it didn't bother you.

"Thank you, Casita." Abuela said, placing the towel into the warm water.

The sink shut off by itself and Abuela wrung out the towel to get rid of any excess water. Then, she took the towel and wiped your tear-stained face, getting rid of any tears or dirt that resided on your face.

"Don't worry. After dinner, you will feel much better, mi amor. I can't imagine how hard it must've been for you." Abuela comforted, rinsing the cloth.

"Thank you, Abuela. I appreciate it." You smiled, still a bit choked up on your tears.

Abuela smiled and nodded. "Now, come, child. Let the others prepare dinner." She guided you over to the dinner table and sat you down.