Only Yours in my Dreams // Alma Peregrine x Reader

Chapter Twelve- I'll Take Care Of You

A/n: TW: abü$e

It had been four days since she'd said it to you. You were back to avoiding her as much as physically possible, and to your dismay, she let you. You wanted her to care. You wanted her to give a shit that you weren't okay, but apparently she didn't.

You didn't see the way that she watched you with concern every time you were in her sight. You didn't hear the late night conversations with Asher, where she worried endlessly about you as he held her, nor the way he started getting quite annoyed with it.

You didn't hear her quiet pleas for help.

You didn't hear the whimpers.

You didn't see the pain in her eyes.

You were too busy avoiding her to notice.

You'd snuck out every single night, completely ignoring her rules and the way she had begged you not to do such a thing.

Tonight you were just too tired to sneak out again, so you laid in your bed, listening to the quiet whispers of the wind and the soft creaking of the house's old bones. You couldn't sleep; when you slept all you were met with was dreams of her. You hadn't slept truly in several days.

You were just about to get up and go get a book to read to entertain yourself, when you heard it. You heard a thud, followed by a whimper.

"Oh, bloody hell." You sighed. You swung your legs out of bed and stood up, putting on your sneakers and slipping out the door. You padded quietly to stand outside the door just down the hall from yours- Miss Peregrine's. Her room was right beside yours.

You prayed to the universe that the sound wasn't what you thought it was. Walking in on Miss Peregrine doing... that, with Asher? That sounded like absolute hell. But you took a deep breath, braced yourself, and swung the door open.

There she was. Curled in a disheveled ball of blue, whimpering in the corner as Asher stood over her with his foot swung back, ready to strike again. He didn't seem to notice you, but she did, and she raised her face just enough to look at you. You saw tears streaking down her sharp features, her pale skin soiled with the salty reminder of her pain. When she looked at you, you didn't see the strong, confident headmistress that you knew so well. You saw a broken shell of a woman.

"Hey! What the hell do you think you're doing?" You shouted, grabbing him by the back of the shirt and throwing him against the wall. "Get away from her, you bastard."

He shoved you off him and stood fully up, glaring you down with his milky eyes.

"You're nothing but a frail little bird. Back off. And stay away from my girlfriend." He growled and you froze. You knew he knew. You snapped out of it in an instant and slapped him hard across the face, your hand leaving a red mark across his cheek.

"You're a pathetic excuse for a man." You hissed as you kneed him in the crotch, causing him to double over with a yelp. You glanced over at Miss Peregrine, who was now watching in utter horror. She mouthed something to you, but you didn't have time to decipher what it was before you were grabbed by the throat.

"And you're a lousy little faggot." The man grinned wickedly, tightening his grip on your neck. Your breath stuttered with both shock and the effort to continue breathing at all.

"Let her go, Asher." You cut your eyes over to see your ymbryne standing, trying her best to push through the obvious pain she was in.

"Don't- ever- call me that." You choked out, swinging one foot forward and kicking him firmly in the stomach. You were met with rock solid abs, and groaned at the shooting pain it sent through your foot.

"Asher, I said let her go! You can do whatever you want to me, but for the love of the birds, please stop hurting her!" The dark haired ymbryne begged, approaching the two of you carefully. His grip loosened just a tiny bit and you used it to your advantage.

"Miss Peregrine, go. Run. Now." You spread your wings and used one to push her away, wrapping the other around yourself and the man in front of you. The other joined it, blocking her view of you just as you brought your foot up to collide with his kneecap. He let go of your neck with a growl, which gave you just enough leverage to back away. "Hey blind boy. How would you feel about really being blind?" You grinned before leaping into the air and shifting into a crow. You flew forward and your claws connected with his eyes, clawing for your life. You heard a shrill shriek from the side of the room but ignored it, focusing entirely on remaining attached to his eyes as he grabbed blindly at you. Blood spattered over your sleek feathers, but you didn't care in the slightest.

He caught hold of one of your wings and pulled roughly, dislocating it and sending you to the floor with a pained caw. The pain shot through your body like fire, your wing dangling limply from your side. You watched helplessly as the now fully blind man searched for you with his hands, blood streaming from his tattered eye sockets like dark tears, staining the front of his shirt and already drying on his hands. In this condition, you were too damaged to transform back, so all you could do was scamper backwards until you collided with your headmistress's feet. You looked up at her as she scooped you up into her arms, cradling you protectively as she backed away from Asher. You carefully stayed silent, though you ached to cry out from the pain you were in.

"Asher, get out of my loop." She said, her voice shaky but firm.

"No- you can't make me. I love you- Alma." He coughed.

"You don't love me. You wouldn't be doing this if you did. Don't make me kill you, Asher." She threatened, though her hands were shaking.

"You couldn't kill me, you pathetic lesbian." He spat, a fresh wave of blood rushing from his wounds as though to emphasize his point.

"I'm not a- what?" Miss Peregrine was obviously baffled, as were you. Now, he was correct in his assumption about you, but the Bird was straight as a line.

"That's what I thought. You're too weak to even finish a sentence." He took a step in the direction of the two of you, but Miss Peregrine stepped to the side so he no longer knew where you were. He lunged forward, blindly grabbing at the air where you just were. "Where are you, little bitch?"

Miss Peregrine looked down at you, and even in bird form she could tell you were terrified. Your feathers shook and black beady eyes shone with fear. She held a clawed finger against her own lips and set you down gently in the corner, ever careful of your wing. She then crouched beside her bed, her eyes never leaving the angry man across her room. He was still blindly searching for you, grasping the empty air. When you looked back over at her, she was holding her crossbow and aiming it steadily at Asher.

"Asher, I'm sorry to have to do this. I didn't know who you truly were. But now, you've hurt one of my children. You give me no choice. I cannot let you live." She took a shaky breath and cocked the crossbow, ready to shoot. Asher whirled around to face her, holding his arms out to the sides mockingly.

"What are you gonna do? You can't do anythi-" He was cut off by her arrow embedding itself deep in his chest. He sputtered, whether with pain or anger you weren't sure. "Damn you." He choked out as blood poured from his mouth. She'd shot him in the heart, that much was clear. Finally he fell to his knees, before falling back into his back and breathing his last breath. You watched as Miss Peregrine raised a shaky hand to her mouth, letting out a low wail into the now quiet room and falling to her own knees. You wanted so badly to help her, to cuddle up to her and offer her comfort, to crawl over to her. But you couldn't move, you couldn't shift, so therefore you couldn't help her. You watched helplessly as she sobbed, her small frame shaking violently. You had never seen her cry before, and it hurt your heart so badly. You let out a soft trill and she turned her attention to you, biting her lower lip to keep it from quivering as she took a deep breath and tried to calm herself down.

"Y/n..." She trailed off as a bout of fresh tears fell down her cheeks. "Can you shift?"

You shook your head, pecking lightly at your dislocated wing.

"You're gonna be okay, love. I'll take care of you."

A/n- owwww what an asshole i never trusted him