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Your Fault (Tainted Miracle AU inspired/Black Widow) sneak peek of story

"You're a sad sight, you know that, right?" A soft female voice said.

Julieta turned around to spot who said that. The thundering sky helped her illuminate her room briefly to reveal who spoke to her, but found no one.

The distraught mother shifted her eyes to find the voice. She knew she heard that voice before. The familiarity of the tone jogged the memories she locked away in her mind...memories that to this day...that she grossly regretted.

Was her mind playing tricks on her? Does her shake and regret messed her up so bad that she begins to hear voices that faintly sounds like....

No...

Julieta's heart sank to the floor of the realization. Can it be? No, no way...she can't be...

The voice lets out a bitter scoff. "You can't even remember your youngest daughter. And here I thought you would have some memory of little old me."

Her tired eyes widened in shock as she heard the voice again. Slowly, Julieta turned around to the far right corner of her room and by the sound of the voice, it's coming from that spot. The healer covered her mouth as words choked in her throat.

"M...M...M-Mirabel?" she squeaked.

To confirm, the darkened sky released a flash of lightning as it brightened her room again to reveal the visitor. And true to her suspicions...there standing in the corner with their arms folded, wearing a purple ruana with the hood obscuring their face. The figure releases a soft chuckle.

"You probably still have cobwebs in that head of yours. Let me help you clear them up," the stranger said. The figure pulled back the hood to reveal themself to the woman.

Julieta releases a choked sob as tears began to form from her eyes as she recognized her little Mirabel. Her belly turned to knots as she took in the features of her grown-up vida.

Her dark brown hair was matted and unkempt. Sitting on top of it was a purple bandana with gold and white designs on it. A purple ruana covered her obviously malnutritioned body, with the thinning neck proving otherwise. She wears the same green rimmed glasses on her face.

Her face.

Oh Diós mio, her face.

Her mariposa's face was marred from the candle incident with a hideous scar splayed over her face. The scar stretches from across her eyes and down to her neck and continues down to seemingly her arm. Julieta wanted to puke of taking in the scar and how she received it from such a tender age of five.

But the most striking feature is her eyes. Mirabel's chocolate eyes was replaced with whitish blue. Warmth and friendliness was no longer in them eyes. In turn was a cold, relentless, bitter, wrathful, blank...and dare she say it...demonic feeling to them. As if staring into them will tear your soul asunder.

Julieta took timid steps forward to see her daughter up close. It's been ten years ever since she last saw her daughter face to face. Not a day went by that the mother felt shameful for letting her fears of being outed by her mamá stop seeing her own daughter. But here she is...in the flesh.

"M-Mirabel...oh my vida, I can't believe that you're here," Julieta whispered. A soft smile crept on her face as her hands drew closer to caress her little Mira's face.

"I thought Alma told you not to make contact with me ever again," Mirabel said icily.

The smile dropped as Julieta took a step back from the cutting tone she's getting. "I--I...M-Mira...p-please understand that I was--"

"If you're going to apologize for that, then you might as well spare me the excuse," her daughter stated, her cutthroat tone making the mother taking a back step.

While Julieta did obeyed her mamá about not making physical contact with Mirabel, she still made deliveries to the barn to ensure she's well-fed.

"B-But mí vida, I made sure that you're well-fed. I-I kept making the deliveries to the barn so you wouldn't starve. Y-Yes, Mamá did told me not to see you again...b-but I still made the--" Again, Julieta's feeble reasoning was coldly cut off.

"Do you hear the words that are coming from your mouth, Julieta?" she asked cruelly.

The woman was about to try to explain her again but realized something about Mira's rebuttal made her stop. Then, after replaying the words in her head, her heart skipped a beat.

"J..Julieta?" she whimpered.

Mira tilted her head in mock confusion. "What? You thought I would still call you my mother after proving to me on how much of an embarrassment you are for all these years? Don't make me laugh."

Julieta sobbed softly. "B-But Mirabel...I did what I had to do for--"

"For the better of the family? Or better for that perra of a grandmother?" the girl asked bitterly.

The woman's eyes widened by the curse word her daughter called about Abuela. "Mirabel, she is not a--"

"Oh no? Then answer me this, Julieta." Mirabel began to take a few steps out of the corner. That made the mother take another back step.

"What kind of grandmother would treat their own nieta like they're the plague?" Mirabel asked.

A back step

Julieta stammered. "I-I'm sure that she didn't mean to--"

"What kind of grandmother would make their mind up to come to the conclusion that isolating their baby granddaughter in a filthy, dirty, dark, damp barn filled with nothing but dirty donkeys would be a good idea?"

Another back step.

"I--I--Mirabel--"

"What kind of grandmother would threaten their family into not making any contact, let alone helping that little baby girl?"

Two steps backwards.

Julieta said nothing.

"What kind of ungodly, wicked, evil woman would go to such lengths? And for what? To protect their feeble, fragile candle light? Or to protect their stupid fear and ego?" Mirabel asked, each question getitng more and more cruel and furious.

"Mira...please let me explain--"

"But you wanna know what's truly frightening? What's truly horrific? What's really cruel?" Mirabel asked, this time getting close to Julieta's face.

The mother's mouth quivered. Her mind was feeling as if it's about to break the more she listens.

"This is all your fault."

Julieta's face became blank. Her mouth closed and her eyes turned glossy. Her entire frame became eerily still like a statue as her fragile mind is processing the words given to her.

"what?" she whisperer, barely audible.

Mira's narrowed eyes widened. "Think about it. Alma was only acting out of fear. Fear and ignorance would make anyone do, think, say, and act in such ways. Stupid and thoughtless and cruel? Yes, but reasonable. They're stemmed out of fear." She pointed a finger at the quivering woman.

"But you. You don't realize it but the person who hurt me the most, who betrayed me the most, who broke my heart the most, who backstabbed me the hardest, who hated me the most...it's not Isabela, not Bruno, not even Abuela...

but you."

Julieta shook her head slightly in refusal. "no..."

"You are my mother. Mothers are supposed to be the guardian of their children. They are supposed to fight against whoever and whatever that's trying to bring harm to their little ones," Mirabel continued blankly.

"no..."

"You was supposed to defend for me. You was supposed to stand up for me, even against their own family. It doesn't matter if that person is your own mother. It doesn't matter if that person was your own family member, mothers are supposed to stand up for their children, no matter who they are."

"please hear me out---I did it because--"

"Because you're a coward." Mirabel finished cruelly.

The woman's body began to tremble like a leaf being violently tossed and turned by the wind as the venomous yet truthful words continued to cut away at her mind.

"You are a coward. You stopped visiting me to save your own skin. You was so cowardly that you would bring the food to the doorstep but not inside where I am," Mirabel stated.

"B-But I let you in the k-kitchen. I would be seeing you to check up on you," Julieta whimpered pathetically.

"Check up on me? What am I, some kind of pet?" the girl asked icily.

The woman stammered feebily. "B-But...but I--"

"You are also a liar. You lied to me about you would always be with me no matter what happens," Mirabel interrupted again.

Julieta took another step back. "H-how?"

Mirabel scowled. It made the woman flinch. "You don't remember? The day you stopped giving me the food to keep me from starving was the day you broke your promise. You was trying to tell me that you stood up to Alma about it, but like a piece of paper, you folded. And don't get me started on that pathetic wimp I'm ashamed to have as a father."

Julieta whimpered as she stood with shell-shocked eyes. "B-But Mirabel--"

"BUT NOTHING!!! That's your problem, you coward! You keep giving me nothing but half-baked excuses into the reasoning why that perra would do this to me! You did nothing to help me! You stopped seeing me! You stopped feeding me! You, just like everyone else in this forsaken family turned your back on me because of a stupid mistake!!" Mirabel snapped, jabbing a finger at Julieta's chest. The poor woman was whimpering like a wounded puppy but the scarred teenager was not done, far from it.

"You are a liar, an insult to real mothers in the word. You claimed that you tried to stop Alma from doing what she's doing but like a dog with its tail between its legs, you scurried off and obeyed once she threatened you. A REAL MOTHER WILL DEFEND HER FAMILY FROM ANYTHING THAT THREATENS THEM, NO MATTER WHO THEY ARE!! YOU DID THIS TO ME!! AND ALL FOR THAT BITCH ALMAAA!! SHE THREW OUT A FIVE YEAR OLD GIRL!! YOUR PATHETIC SISTER WANTED ME GONE!!!" A furious snarl disfigured Mira's face. "And you....you helped them! You allowed them! You let them! You did nothing! Absolutely nothing!!!"

All of a sudden, Mirabel opened her ruana and the sight turned Julieta's mind blank as her heart broke in a million pieces. Mirabel was wearing a long purple dress with the same intricate designs her hair bandana has. She wears a stitched up top that was made of various dirty cloths that exposed her belly.

But what broke the woman was the state Mira's belly is in. True to them cruel words, the day she stopped giving her food, Mirabel starved. She was sure she counted all the ribs that are showing themselves under the skin. That hideous scar continued down to her left chest and down to her forearm.

The thunder unleashed a crackling, deafening roar with flashes of lightning highlighting the horror that Julieta is seeing.

"I had to live off by stealing from the grocers. I had to make provisions for myself to keep from withering away. It may not be much compared to your so-called food made of love, but it kept me alive," Mirabel said softly, the fury still present in her tone.

Julieta has nothing to say. The more Mirabel continued her rant, the more her self-hatred and shame turned to self-loathing. She want to crawl in a ball and die by how horrible she's feeling right now.

"And you know what? What makes this more disturbing is the fact that you could've stopped this from happening," Mirabel continued as she closed her ruana. "You would've stood up, actually, stood up to that perra if you weren't so selfish. I wouldn't have to rely on stealing into keeping me alive. I wouldn't have to make my own clothes. I wouldn't have to be sleeping in the same place with the stinky donkeys. I wouldn't have to be sleeping on dirty blankets to keep warm."

Julieta couldn't hear no more. Her mind was so far gone that all she could do was stand still with a blank yet horrific expression on her face, as tears creepily fell down her cheeks, makeup smearing. All she could do was accept the truth.

"You would've made me proud to have you as a mother. But you didn't." Mirabel's expression fell as her eyes widened and her eyebrows raised. She began to circle around the fragile woman like a predator eyeing its prey.

"You had the power. You would've stopped this from happening to me. But you didn't," Mirabel continued venemously.

Julieta's body began to tremble.

"You are a liar. You are a traitor. You are a coward. You are a rotten excuse of a mother. You helped Alma into hurting me. You helped Alma into turning my life into hell."

The woman's lips tightened as she listened.

"You helped her into killing me. By killing my joy. My childhood."

Julieta's face darkened at the bone chilling mention. Her body froze as if the very blood in her body turned ice cold.

"You don't love me," Mirabel whispered coldly. She stopped her circling and began to walk towards Julieta's right side.

Crack.

"You didn't protect me."

Crack.

"You stopped feeding me."

Crack Crack Crack.

"You killed me, mamá."

The rain thundered and boomed more loudly as Mirabel continues her verbal destruction.

"You abandoned me, mamá."

The lightning flashed the sky with the thunder unleashing its deafening boom. Julieta just stood there with the same numbing look on her face. Nothing else matters to her anymore. She doesn't care anymore.

Mirabel leaned closer and closer until her mouth was centimeters away from the broken woman's ear. As soon as she's within touching distance, she said these words that would kill the sweet, kind, and loving woman known as Julieta Madrigal:

"You disappointed me. And no amount of your cooking could do anything about it. This is all your fault."

And that was the final nail in the coffin.

Any rebuttal or explanation that was in Julieta's mind was killed. Anything that closely resembles the kind, heartwarming, gentle, tender-loving mother was gone. All that's left is a hollow husk. Julieta's eyes was dead. In them eyes is a empty void of nothing, filled with soul-rending condemnation and shame.

A flash brightened her room again, but no thunder rolled in. Like the damage was so great that the thunder itself isn't powerful enough to emphasize it.

Her mind shattered like glass. Her heart was shattered. Her soul was shattered. Everything about Julieta Madrigal was shattered.

But like shattered glass, it can be used for something else.

Right before Mirabel turned away from her to take her departure, Julieta lets out a whisper.

"what you want me to do?"

Mirabel stopped. She didn't turned around, and neither did Julieta. But both of them are aware that one is listening to the other.

"I want to make you proud of me. I want to earn the right of being your mamá again. I want you to love me again. I want to make things right with you," Julieta continued feebly.

Mirabel sighed. "Like I said, it's too late. There's nothing you could do that would make it up to me." She resumed back to her departure.

Panic filled her mind as she heard those footsteps. Julieta sharply turned her head at her direction. "Anything!"

That made the teenager pause.

Relieved that she's staying, Julieta lets out a shaky smile. "Yes, I would do anything." In a disturbing display, the mother fell to her knees with her hands clasped in a pleading position. "I know I let you down. You're right about me. I am a liar, a traitor, and a coward. But I am more that willing to do anything to make you proud of me! Please tell me what I should do to earn your love, mi amor! I don't care about anything anymore! What I want is to be your mother again, so please...what do you want me to do?! I'll do anything!" she cried out desperately, her voice turned hoarse by the yelling. After that, she broke down into quiet sobs, her eyes clenched shut.

Mirabel's eyes shadowed, her expression unreadable. But a faint, infinitesimal, yet cruel smile crept on her face.

"Anything, you say?"

Julieta continued to beg, "S-Sí, mí amor, anything! Anything you want!"

Silence fell upon them.

"Well, there is something..."

Julieta's face brightened as a smile formed on her face. She's going to be given a chance to make it up. Whatever it is, she'll do it gladly.

Her smile grew brighter as she saw her daughter walking towards her with a smile of her own. Julieta was beaming ear to ear as Mirabel was standing in front of her.

In yet another disturbing appearance, Mirabel's scarred hand rested under Julieta's chin, lifting her up slightly.

"Anything?" she asked again, to confirm.

"Yes, my love, anything for you~" Julieta said again eagerly.

Mirabel's smile grew slightly wider. "Well then...in that case...if you really want me to make it up to me and to love you again...to be my mother again...there is one thing I want."

"Yes, love?"

Mirabel crouched down to reach eye level with Julieta. Whatever she wants her to do, Julieta would do it as long as it gets her to become Mirabel's mother again.

"Help me destroy the miracle?" Mirabel asked coyly.

The smile turned to a uncertain frown as she heard the request. Destroy the miracle? Get rid of the very foundation of Encanto? Destroy the family?

"Destroy the miracle?" Julieta parroted.

Mirabel nodded as her smile fell. Once her smile fell, Julieta's heart paced rapidly.

"You know better. You saw how poisonous it's turning this family. It made you into the village's cooking slave for anything minor or inconvenient. It turned Pepa into a nervous wreck and a watering can for the lazy ingrates here. It turned Dolores into the town gossiper. Made Camilo into the fool. Made your brother into an insufferable waste of space. Turned Luisa into the town donkey, ironic, huh? Made your Isabela unrecognizable. And Abuela would no doubt make Antonio do something with little to no breaks. For what reason would a five year old be doing that a grown up would do? And do I need to say what it did to me?" Mirabel said.

Julieta nodded slightly. "N-No, it's true...it's true...but...I'm ashamed to say that I'm afraid of mamá. What if I get caught? What if I failed you? What if I--"

"We will fight in the end anyways. It had to come to that, if we're ever going to be free. I know it's scary, but don't you want to grow through temporary fear to achieve something that you'll be proud of rather than doing nothing and feel nothing but contempt and self-loathing at yourself for the rest of your life?" Mira calmly asked rhetorically.

Julieta pondered. She's been suffering ever since Mirabel's failed ceremony. Not a day went by she wished she could go back and stop Abuela from casting her out. To redeem herself into becoming a mother and guardian for Mirabel with or without Agustín.

But it's a scary thought. To no longer being able to heal the sick and wounded with her cooking? To destroy the thing that blessed her with a gift that every doctor in the world would kill over? To go against her mother's miracle? The reminder of her lost loved one?

"Here's some wisdom to help you with your choice. I know about how much the candle holds everyone dear. But sometimes...the very thing that holds everyone together, will be the same thing that will destroy it from the inside out," Mirabel said, bringing Julieta out of her thoughts.

"Sometimes in life...family will treat you worse than a stranger on a street."

Those words held so much weight that it gotten rid of any doubt forming in her mind. She needs no reminder on how brutally true those words are.

"And besides, didn't you said that you would do anything to make it up to me?". Mirabel's frown deepened as her face darkened. "Was that another cruel lie to get my favor?"

Instantly, Julieta pleaded. This time, she fell on her face with fresh tears blurring her vision as the accusation brought back unpleasant memories.

"No no no no! I wasn't lying! I am more than happy to do anything you want to be your mother again! P-Please forgive me, I-I just didn't expect that," Julieta begged. "But it's risky...what about Bruno? And Mamá?" she asked.

"Don't worry about them. Let me handle them, you help me get rid of the candle. But if they ever try to get towards me...protect me," Mirabel placated.

Julieta lifted her face slightly but not looking at her face. "P-Protect...I can protect you?"

Mirabel's features lightened as a smirk formed on her features. "Of course, you're my mamá, aren't you? And real mothers protect their loved ones from anything or anyone, don't they? And you claimed that you're a mother, didn't you?"

Julieta's expression changed from uncertainty to determination. "I am, my love. If bringing the Encanto down and destroying this messed up family will bring us together, then I will gladly do it for you. Just tell me when and I will do it."

Mirabel's expression softened. She helped Julieta off her face to get her back to her knees with her hand once again resting under her chin. Julieta relaased a hopeful gasp as she saw her smiling daughter's face. She aims to reach that goal into making that face stay on her forever. Nothing else matters to her anymore. She doesn't care about the miracle anymore. She doesn't care about Bruno anymore. She doesn't care about Isabela anymore. And she certainly doesn't care about Mamá anymore.

All that matters to her is her Mirabel's love and happiness.

And she will do anything to get that back. To become a mother again.

No matter what.

"Well then, mamá...what are you waiting for? Go out there. Do it. Make me proud," Mirabel ordered.

Julieta nodded as she held onto her daughter's wrist and caress it as she stares lovingly in her blue eyes.

"Of course, mí amor."

(AN: That's the sneak peek. I hope it turned out well to all of you. I'm still in the middle of going through the rough drafts of the chapters but I am happy that this section turns out well. I'm doing a twisted spin on the yandere for Julieta. Thank you, again c-rose for giving me the inspiration for this! All credit and kudos goes to you and I hope you will love the story once I get it done!)

#Tainted Miracle AU #Evil AU #mirabel madrigal #EncantoAUFanWeek #encantoaufanweek

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