Bruno's Tower

"Hey! Luisa, hold up!" Mirabel yelled, running after her sister, who was marching into town.

"Mirabel, wait up!" You ran after the both of them, eventually catching up to Mirabel.

"Where'd she go?" You asked, looking around, Luisa nowhere in sight.

"On it." You both heard a distant yell. The voice sounded familiar. It was Luisa's.

"This way." Mirabel grabbed your hand, dragging you to the place where the sound of Luisa's voice came from.

Climbing over a wall, you both saw Luisa picking up and collecting donkeys that went loose.

"Luisa!" Mirabel yelled, but fell forward, yelping as she fell to the ground and onto her face.

"Mirabel!" Holding in your laughter, you jumped down, landing next to her. You held out a hand, and she took it, standing back up.

"Thanks- Hey, Luisa! Wait a second!" She groaned, adjusting her glasses.

"You gotta tell us about the magic." Mirabel asked as you both caught up to Luisa. "What's going on? What are you hiding?"

"Nothing. Just got a lot of chores, so maybe you two should just go home." Luisa said.

A worried man slowly approached her. "Luisa, my house is leaning to the..."

Luisa walked over to the house and kicked it back into place.

"Dolores said your eye was twitching, and it never twitches. Something's making you nervous." Mirabel concluded, now walking backwards in front of Luisa.

"Hey, move. You're gonna make me drop a donkey." Luisa told her, avoiding the question.

"Luisa, will you just..." Mirabel scoffed. "Just tell me what it is."

"There's nothing to tell." Luisa stated, walking away.

"You're obviously worried about something." Mirabel provoked. "Luisa, if you know what's hurting the magic, and it gets worse 'cause you won't tell me what's wrong-"

"Nothing's wrong!" She shouted at Mirabel, even surprised by her own tone of delivery.

You and Mirabel looked at each other with wide eyes and then back at Luisa.

"Wow, uh, sorry. That, uh... That snuck out there. What I meant was, um... Why would anything be wrong?" Luisa placed down the donkeys and then picked up you and Mirabel, placing you guys to the side with the donkeys.

"I'm totally fine. The magic's fine. Luisa's fine. I'm totally not nervous." She placed her hands on her hips, her eye twitching as she did so.

"Your eye is doing the thing..." Mirabel pointed out.

Luisa finally cracked and vented about her many anxieties. Those of which she lists are about supporting the family and the community.

She's always expected to be the strong one of the family and she's always having to carry the family's weight.

And she does everything without any hesitation or rumination. Not once does she ever think about how difficult or dangerous a task may be.

And on top of accomplishing these tasks, she has to do it without complaining. She worries that if she cannot fulfill these requests, then she would have no purpose in the family or in life.

You and Mirabel only listened, unable to do anything as Luisa's temporary therapists.

Luisa panted, trying to keep herself from hyperventilating as she finished venting.

Who knew she kept all of this bottled up? It honestly made you feel sorry for Luisa and with all she had to deal with.

You and Mirabel didn't know what to do. You only looked at each other and nodded, sharing the same idea as each other. Stepping up to Luisa, you both brought her into an embrace.

Mirabel sighed. "I think you're carrying way too much."

You agreed with Mirabel and suggested to Luisa, "You should just take a break every once in a while."

You both grunted as Luisa grabbed the both of you, engulfing you two in a tight, bone-crushing hug.

"Maybe I overdo it." Luisa said in a soft voice.

You nodded along with Mirabel. "Yep." She said, her voice strained.

"Um... There is something you guys should know. Last night, Mirabel, when you saw the cracks, I felt... weak." Luisa pouted her lip, holding you both closer.

"What?" Mirabel stuttered hesitantly.

"Luisa! The donkeys!" The man from earlier reminded.

"On it!" She placed both of you down and regathered the donkeys.

"Wait, wait, wait. What do you mean? What do you think's hurting the magic?" Mirabel asked.

"Don't know, but I heard the grown-ups once. Before Tío Bruno left, he had, like, some terrible vision about it." Luisa said.

"Tío Bruno?" You and Mirabel both muttered. "What was in his vision?"

"No one knows. They never found it." Luisa walked away. "But if something's wrong with the magic, start with Bruno's tower. Find that vision."

"Wait! How do you find a vision? What are we even looking for?" Mirabel questioned.

"If you find it, you'll know. But be careful." Luisa warned. "That place is off limits for a reason."

Mirabel turned around, looking at the house in the distance.

"Alright, to Bruno's tower we go. C'mon, (Y/N)." Mirabel was making her way back to the house when she realized you weren't following her.

"(Y/N)?" She turned around, watching as you stood there, thinking about something. "What's wrong?" She asked, walking up to you.

"Tío Bruno... that's who was missing. How did I never realize it before?" You asked yourself.

You had very faint memories of Tío Bruno, and he was your favorite growing up. How could you have missed it? You shook it off, blaming it on the many headaches you've been dealing with.

"Ah, never mind. Let's go to Bruno's tower." You told Mirabel. She looked at you, confused, but then nodded.

~~~

Back at the house, you and Mirabel made your way up the stairs and waited for Abuela and Isabela to pass by. After they did, you both scurried across the breezeway and walked up a dark staircase that led to Bruno's door.

Turning the doorknob, you and Mirabel grunted as you two forced open the door. It revealed an hourglass shaped opening in the back wall and a cascade of never-ending sand behind it.

You tilted your head in confusion as you both walked forward to the flowing waterfall of sand. Sticking her hand through, Mirabel collected some of the sand in her palm.

"Casita. Can you... turn off the... sand?" She asked.

The floor tiles outside the door rumbled, flapping up and down.

"You... can't help in here?"

The floor tiles flapped up and down again in response.

"We'll be fine." Mirabel gave a reassuring smile. "We need to do this. I need to do this. For you, for Abuela, maybe a little for me..."

You laughed. "Alright, then. You ready?"

Mirabel nodded and exhaled. "Find the vision, save the mirac-" She screamed as she plummeted down into the cascade, tumbling down a dune of sand.

You rushed forward to the edge, leaning through the cascade of sand.

"Mirabel?" You asked, the sand flowing down your back and down the sides of your body. "Hold on, I'm coming."

Jumping down, you bent your legs as you landed on both feet. But since the dune was steep, you fell forward and also tumbled down, landing right next to Mirabel.

The both of you lifted your heads up, spitting out sand. More of it spilled from Mirabel's glasses, and she wiped the sand away from under her eyes.

"Oh god, it's in my eye." You panicked, your eyes tearing up at the bothersome sensation.

Spitting out more of the sand, you wiped your eyes, the sand particles hopefully falling out.

The two of you looked up to see a rock slab carved into the shape of a hand that read "Your future awaits". The finger it held out pointed upward to a staircase that winded around the towering chasm.

"Wow." You and Mirabel marveled at the sight.

"I kind of have a bad feeling about this." You muttered, wanting to go back.

"We'll be fine." Mirabel encouraged.

A toucan landed beside her on a rock, slightly scaring her. "Oh, hello." She said, facing the animal.

It squawked at her, tilting its head.

"Lot of stairs, but at least we'll have a friend." Mirabel said, and you watched as the bird flew off. "No. He flew away immediately."

You chuckled, earning an elbow to the side from her.

Mirabel groaned, mustering up the strength and intent. "All right."

Confidence and determination were present in her eyes as Mirabel began up the stairs. Observing the amount of stairs there were, you gulped and hesitantly followed behind.