The Vision

"Welcome to the family Madrigal-" Mirabel sang, stepping up the stairs.

You stopped for a second and took a breather. Looking up, your eyes widened when you saw how many more steps there were before you actually made it to the top.

Taking a deep breath, you stretched your legs before catching up to her.

~A thousand more steps later~

You and Mirabel panted as the both of you traveled up the stairs.

"There's so many stairs in the casa Madrigal."

Your legs were killing you. You didn't know how Mirabel had the energy and strength to do this.

"Why couldn't you use your powers again?" She asked you, not stopping.

"Remember? They don't work in Bruno's tower, oddly enough." You reminded her.

~Flashback to just a few thousand steps ago~

"Ooh, idea. (Y/N), how about your powers? Can you use them to bring us up to the top?" Mirabel asked, stopping on the step she was on.

"I can test it out." You shrugged.

Holding out your hands, you conjured your powers, feeling your feet lift from off the ground.

Opening your eyes, you saw how you were just a few feet off the ground. You ascended even further when you felt your body come to a stop. Suddenly, you were falling.

You panicked and quickly tried to use your powers again to save you from the landing. And at the very last second, you caught yourself.

You breathed heavily, thinking about how terribly that could've gone. Setting yourself down, you decided from that point on to not use your powers in Bruno's tower.

~~~

"Oh, right..." Mirabel recalled, panting and looking up. "You think there would be another way to get so high 'cause we're magic, but no. Magical how many stairs fit in here!" She yelled, completely losing it.

"Bruno, your room is the worst!"

~Timeskip to after climbing the stairs~

Mirabel's hand reached the top of the landing, and she pulled herself up. From there, she saw a dark archway set between slabs of carved rock.

"Have we made it?" You barely managed to get out, your throat dry and your body aching.

In front was a gaping crevasse separating you and Mirabel and the dark archway.

She groaned frustratedly. "Come on..."

Taking one end of a rope, she threw it around a stalagmite and yanked on it to check if it was secure.

"Okay, we can do this." Mirabel said, looking behind her to see you collapsed on the floor.

"Right behind you." You gave her a thumbs up, looking up at her.

Mirabel turned back around and looked down, shuddering. The toucan from earlier sat on the other side of the crevasse, squawking and waiting. Taking a jump, Mirabel swung clumsily on the rope, but safely made it to the other side.

"Whoo!" She stuck her fists up into the air in triumph.

Stomping in celebration, a chunk of the ledge broke off under her foot. She quickly stepped back and watched it plummet down the deep crevasse.

"Great going, Mirabel." You groaned as you watched the series of events unfold.

"How am I supposed to get over now?" You asked, staring at the rope dangling from the stalagmite.

With the rope being out of reach and the chunk of rock missing, it made it more difficult for you to land. Let alone even get to the other side.

An idea popped into your head, but you immediately discarded it. Even if you tried to use the other rope and throw it over, it wouldn't be as secure because of the one Mirabel threw earlier.

That only left you with one choice, and Mirabel knew it, too.

"I am not... using my powers." You told her, thinking of another way to make it to the other side.

You thought of jumping as another option, but it would be highly unlikely that you'd make that jump.

"I think... I think it's the only way, (Y/N)." Mirabel said, anxiously holding onto her bag strap.

"Mirabel, you know it won't work. You know it and I know it." You looked at her with an unsure expression.

"Just... try." She encouraged you.

Sighing, you accepted the fact that using your powers was the only way you were going to make it over the crevasse. Concentrating, you decided you were going to channel your control of the earth. After all, Bruno's room comprised only sand... and stone. Depressing, but anyway.

Taking a deep breath, you closed your eyes and focused. From below, at the very bottom of the chasm, there was a distant rumbling. Mirabel curiously looked over the edge, wondering what the cause of it was. She looked back up at you, not expecting to see your eyes glowing brightly.

"You might want to step back a bit." You warned her.

She blinked a couple of times before swiftly stepping back a couple of feet. With the raise of your hands, chunks of the earth from down below rose, forming tall columns of earth. They met and leveled the landing of the staircase, allowing you to walk across.

"Those won't hold for long." You exclaimed, dashing across to the other side.

One by one, the columns fell back into their place into the earth. They created a booming sound throughout the room as they did so.

As the column you were on shook and rumbled, you gasped and made a jump for it, landing next to Mirabel.

"I... did it?" You breathed out, laughing as you stood up. "I... just did that. Let's get going, yeah?" You smiled cheerily, in a good mood from the stunt you just pulled.

Mirabel laughed along with you, patting your back.

Continuing on, you both peaked your heads around an opening into a dark passageway. The toucan below you also did the same.

In the eerie corridor, there were many aspects you and Mirabel took notice of. You both eyed the stylized reliefs of human figures carved into the sandstone walls. There were also hieroglyphics displayed on their flat chests.

A rattle that echoed throughout the corridor had startled both you and Mirabel. You realized it was only the toucan who had accidentally knocked over a piece of pottery.

Sighing in relief, Mirabel then shrieked as rats jumped out of another piece of pottery. They had scurried across the ground and up a wall. Then they squeezed themselves through the hollow openings of a carved face.

The toucan shook fearfully as it peaked out from the top of Mirabel's shoulder. The three of you turned your heads as you both noticed a circular door flapping open nearby. The toucan then flew off of Mirabel's shoulder and out of the corridor, back to where it came from.

"Quitter!" Mirabel yelled, her voice echoing throughout the corridor.

Entering through the circular doorway, you both made your way into a dark cave with carvings on its floor. You were hit with an unexpected pain, and you collapsed down to the ground.

"(Y/N)!" Mirabel gasped, bending down over to you.

She gasped again as she noticed the door closing behind you guys. Now completely in the dark, a faint green glow just a couple of feet from where you guys were emanated from below. Kneeling in the circle, dots of light shone through the ground.

She hesitantly looked at you and then curiously at the glowing dots. "Just hold on, okay? Give me a second." She told you.

She crawled over and dug away the sand over one of the lights to discover a glowing shard of green glass. Unearthing it, she held it up in front of her for a better look. Turning it around in her hands, she carefully ran a finger down one of its jagged edges.

Meanwhile, back in the house, Abuela was busy sweeping the courtyard. That's when she paused and glanced up at the candle. She narrowed her eyes at it in the third-story window, wondering why it was flickering.

Back in the dark cave, Mirabel unearthed another green shard and fit it together with the first. Unknown to Mirabel, it was causing immense pain for you. You cried out in agony, your tears falling down into the sand.

Mirabel looked over at you with worried eyes. Unnoticed by her, cracks appeared in a boulder nearby. She bent down to collect another shard of glass, still unaware as more cracks appeared in the walls.

Slowly fitting the third piece together, you felt as if your head was going to burst open. The pounding in your head became extreme, and your ears rang furiously.

"Stop..." You muttered out, choking on your own tears.

As Mirabel pieced the third shard, the opaquely mirrored surface displayed an image... A distorted image of (Y/N) in her corrupted form.

"(Y/N)?" Mirabel whispered.

From above, sand came sprinkling down onto the surface of the vision. Mirabel looked up, only to find cracks covering the entire cave.

"(Y/N), we gotta go, like, now." She said, frantically digging out more shards from the sand.

You looked up with watery eyes to see and hear the cave cracking. Standing up, you stumbled on your feet and ran towards the cave door. You hit your fist against it several times, but it wouldn't give.

Turning to leave, Mirabel almost lost her glasses. And when she put them back on, she spotted a green glow from a growing mound of sand. Rushing over, she dug her way through and collected the shard. Rocks fell around her as she fled and made a beeline for the door.

Crawling through the swells of sand, she reached the door and pounded her shoulder into it, but it wouldn't budge.

"Mirabel, the handle!" You coughed, inhaling some of the sand.

She reached for the handle and turned it, resulting in the door to burst open. You and Mirabel came tumbling out in a torrent of sand.

Mirabel screamed as she found herself right on the edge of the crevasse. Quickly, she scrambled back to safety, catching her breath.

Peering inside her bag, she found all the glass shards glowing within. Also remembering about you, she turned around, searching for you. Covered in a pile of sand, she spotted your body, laying still in the sand.

"(Y/N), we made it." She laughed triumphantly. She received no response.

"(Y/N)?" She called out, crawling over to you.

On your chest, just below the collar of your long-sleeved dress, she spotted a black mark. Pulling the sleeve to the side a bit, the black mark seemed to continue.

Lifting your sleeve from your wrist, she gasped when she saw how it grew from underneath the sleeve. The mark had covered your entire arm.

"(Y/N)?" She muttered, recalling the image she saw in the glass shards.

"(Y/N)!" She yelled, turning you over and onto your back.

You only laid there, unconscious and unresponsive.