Only Yours in my Dreams // Alma Peregrine x Reader

Chapter Seventeen- Wake Up Call

She cradled you in her arms, sobbing as she held your wrist, her thumb pressing desperately into your skin. Her mouth was moving, mumbling incoherent things slurred by her own tears. The boy was gone, he had returned home- The two of you were resting in the grass of the front lawn of your loop, her kneeling and you laying across her lap with the support of her arm. She released your wrist in favor of holding her fingers under your nose.

"Y/n, please wake up, darling."

She panicked when she felt nothing, thinking quickly and pulling your mouth open slightly. She pressed her own to yours, breathing her very own life into you. Her eyes looked desperately over your closed ones, missing the sparkling life and vibrance they always held. She continued helping you breathe, supporting your head by cupping your cheek with the hand that wasn't cradling your body to her chest.

Your eyes snapped open and you looked wildly into her familiar ones, tasing the salty tears on her lips and seeing them falling freely from her eyes. She pulled her mouth away from yours and tried to wipe her tears away, but a fresh wave came as you let out a heartbreaking whimper. You jolted over, falling hard out of her arms and hitting the ground. When you landed on your forearms you dropped your forehead to rest on the ground. The pain in your back was so great, but you were alive. You were alive.

"Y/n." Her hand rested on your lower back, rubbing little circles across your spine. "Oh, birds. You're back. Thank the heavens you're back. You scared me!"

"Scared me too. Don't like." You gasped out. "Never again."

"Can you stand up? We need to get you inside, love."

"Help me." You pulled your knees under you and tried to get up, but you were too weak. Her hands landed on your waist and supported you firmly, helping you walk to the house.

"When we get inside, I'll give you medicine. Miss Bluejay sent some with me, and it's time that you can take it again."

~~~

You didn't think you'd ever seen anyone as happy to see you as when Emma and Olive did. Miss Peregrine had to jump in front of you to keep them off, and at that point was when they realized that your wings were gone. You were bombarded with questions about it, none of which you answered, until Miss Peregrine banned anyone from asking.

Now you were with her in the bathroom, you sitting on the toilet with her knelt in front of you as she got you medicine. You were thankful you didn't have to pee, as you really didn't think she'd let you go alone and you weren't keen on her being with you. She handed you two pills which you promptly took, then she examined your back.

"We need to change these bandages."

Your stomach dropped. You couldn't do it on your own and you weren't wearing anything under them, they were taking the place of your bra.

"Can I take them off of you?" She asked, taking your hand in her slender one. You hesitated and she sensed that, so she continued speaking. "I won't look." You nodded reluctantly and straightened your posture as best you could, pulling the end of the bandage so she could unwrap it from your body. You turned to the side so she was able to get behind you as she worked to unwrap the gauze. Within a moment she had it fully off, leaving you in just your pants.

You heard a soft gasp from behind you, followed by the feeling of cold air hitting the ragged holes on your back. You sucked in a sharp breath and tried to look at her over your shoulder.

"I want to see it. I haven't seen it." You whispered. She nodded and helped you up, walking you in front of the mirror. She carefully avoided looking at your chest as you looked into the mirror, craning to see your wounds. You took a shaky breath and knitted your eyebrows together in an attempt not to cry out at the sight. Two adjacent bloodied gashes in your back, on the outside of your shockingly prominent spine. Your eyes grew glossy and you looked away, biting your lip to stay silent.

"They're really gone." It was nothing more than a broken whisper from your lips. "And I can't get them back."

"I'm so sorry, y/n." She looked into your eyes, grief in her own. "But at least you're alive. Speaking of which, don't you ever die on me again, understood?" Her voice broke on the last word, and your heart sank.

"So that was who she was." You looked away and lifted a hand to cover your mouth as you squeezed your eyes shut.
"Śmierć. I died."

"You saw her?" You nodded and debated whether to continue.

"I thought she was you. But her voice, when she spoke, she didn't sound like you. I was scared." It was very small, you were trying not to seem weak.

"She- She looked like me?" Her voice was equally small. She knew what it meant. It meant that you did still love her- Śmierć took the form of the person you loved most, when she welcomed you into the afterlife. It was a common myth but now she knew it was true.

Her stomach erupted in an unfamiliar feeling. It was like it was twisting itself in knots. She felt a sort of heat rush into her cheeks and glanced in the mirror, where she saw pink tinting her cheeks. But before anything else could happen to her, she grabbed a new roll of gauze and held it up.

"Let's get you cleaned up." You nodded and she helped you back to sit on the toilet, grabbing a wet cloth on the way. Once you were in place and she was behind you, you braced yourself for the pain to come. But surprisingly you barely felt it, just a warm and gentle pressure spreading across your back. There was the slightest sting and it was over. You looked back at her in surprise, admiring her face of concentration.

"You're so gentle." You breathed, letting the smallest of smiles tug at your lips. She didn't look up at you, just keeping her focus on your muscular back.

"I don't want to hurt you." She said simply. "You've been hurt enough." You clenched your jaw at the bitter irony. If only she knew.

But what you didn't know was that she did.

You had no idea that the very same thing was going through her mind, how much she had unknowingly hurt you. Oh, how upset you'd be with the three teenagers when you found out that they had told Miss Peregrine that you had feelings for her.

But what you also didn't know was that your brief death had been a terrifying sort of wake up call for her.

A/n- we're getting somewhere