Inspired by Dean Leipek's The Dragon Must Die trilogy (but not much in common, just some highlights)
Fantasy-AU , a mix of reality and magical realism
Ancient Dragons live high in the mountains - immortal, intelligent creatures with the gift of foresight. Their worldview is closer to the philosophical contemplation of life; they do not interfere in human conflicts. They are only partially immortal - when the life of the dragon’s body comes to an end, the dragon finds a person and transfers its essence into him. After some time - from several years to decades, the dragon's essence suppresses the human one, and the person becomes a dragon and flies to the mountains to join his brothers. A long time ago, even before meeting Alma , little Pedro was possessed by a dragon, and the boy forgot about it. But when the triplets were born and the city was attacked, the dragon inside Pedro was unleashed. He protected Alma and his (Pedro) children, but the dragon could not and did not want to stay with the people, and returned to the mountains. As a result of the union of a man and a half-dragon , all these gifts appeared; the candle is important - it is a piece of the dragon’s fire that burned in Pedro’s chest. Bruno canonically receives the gift of “Seeing the Future”, goes to the dragons - in age somewhere around the birth of Isabela and Dolores, because in Encanto they are wary of him, because seeing the future is a dragon ability, and in the past for the inhabitants in general turmoil it seemed as if a dragon had simply fallen from the sky and attacked them, killing Pedro.
So, Bruno hangs out in the dragon community, he is treated like a bush or a stone - he is not considered an equal, but he is not persecuted either, reasoning that since he sees the future like we do, he has the right to be here, and in general, everything in life is decay and entropy. And then suddenly Agustin comes to the dragon mountain and tells Bruno that the family urgently needs his help.
On the day when Antonio turned 5 years old, Mirabel ran away from home in the evening, upset, and got lost in the forest, where she came across a dying dragon - and he transferred his essence into her. The family does not want Mirabel to turn into a dragon and leave them, and they hope that Bruno will help Mirabel curb her dragon essence and remain human (such cases are very rare, but not impossible, if the will of a person is not weaker than the will of a dragon).
Bruno agrees to help. He teaches her meditation and self-control, but the trouble is that Mirabel does not want to remain ordinary, she wants to become a dragon and fly away from this family, where she is treated with slight disdain due to the lack of a gift. Bruno, after listening to her explanations, returns with her to the dragon mountain and finds the dragon that Pedro has become. He agrees to help his conditional granddaughter and conditional son, and teaches her to be a dragon, while Bruno reminds her how to remain human - to be able to fly in the skies on dragon wings and retain human feelings and emotions, because... in dragons, these very feelings and emotions actually atrophy, they are replaced by cold logic.
Meanwhile, rumors are circulating in Encanto. Since Alma is trying to keep everything in the family and prevent the spread of information that Mirabel can become a dragon, the residents decide that dragons have gone crazy and are kidnapping innocent maidens right from their home, someone remembers that Bruno had “dragon essence” - the ability to see the future, and makes the amazing conclusion that Bruno became a dragon and kidnapped Mirabel and ate her, which means that all the girls in Encanto are under threat, and even everything in general: after all, any years ago, a dragon attacked the city and burned everything (we remember that for the residents in the turmoil, the appearance of the dragon-Pedro superimposed on the appearance of the invaders, they did not notice they in the dragon’s flame). And someone comes up with the delightful idea of climbing the dragon mountain and defeating the filthy monsters. And so a detachment of not very smart, but terribly brave people rises... and sees two dragons, and Bruno with them. With a cry: “Beat your own, so that strangers will be afraid,” they go on the attack, and at this moment, Mirabel, like a tremulous girl, although with armored scales and a flame in her mouth, loses her nerves, she incinerates them... and in horror flies away from itself. The only thing she dreams of now is to finally become a dragon, not to feel guilt, pain, fear and self-loathing. But she cannot, because these are all human feelings, they are too strong and completely suppress dragon logic and indifference. And she's also, of course, in love with Bruno, because she killed people in the first place to protect him.
Bruno and Pedro are both looking for her, Pedro admits that although he has become a dragon, the memory of the man is still alive in him. They have difficulty finding Mirabel, who has climbed into a completely impassable thicket and lives there in the guise of a person in a hut in the forest, away from people. She sees Bruno and locks herself in the house because she is afraid of accidentally burning him down, because she does not trust herself. Of course, they return her, fly to Encanto - and Pedro, and Mirabel, and Bruno (riding a dragon). Pedro turns into a man, and Alma , seeing her living husband, almost faints with happiness. The love for his wife was stronger than the dragon's essence, and Pedro chooses to live with his family, "until the last of my kind fades away," as he says. Well, Mirabel marries Bruno, yes. Because who dares to object to the dragoness ?