How Did It Come To This?

Chapter 20-Fire

"Y/N!" Hugh busted into the room. You and Alma both shot up in bed, you feeling stupidly embarrassed, Alma not seeming to have cared and more annoyed he'd woken her.

"Oh be quiet, heathen." Horace walked in, lightly hitting him in the back of the head. "I regret to inform you that Olive has started a tiny fire in the kitchen. And rather than Emma and Enoch, the supposedly responsible eldest children of the house doing something about it. They decided to start... singing. It's horrendous really." He said with a sigh. "It's the same song over and over again." Now that you mentioned it you could hear what sounded like harmonized yells coming from downstairs.

"Oh, dude did you even notice? Miss P is back!" Hugh said, nudging the boy behind him and pointing to the headmistress. "What are you doing in Y/n's room?" He asked like an oblivious child.

"Unimportant. We must put a stop to the matter at hand." She said, getting up and brushing the wrinkles out of her nightgown before striding over to the door, ushering the boys out, looking back at you. You got up and walked over to where she stood in your door, smiling at you. She pulled you closer to her, placing a light kiss on your lips, pulling away again quickly. You felt your face heat up and she laughed at you. "Good morning, darling."

You rolled your eyes, grabbing her by the collar of her nightgown to pull her down a bit so you could reach her lips, pulling her into a much longer kiss. "Good morning, birdie." You said when you pulled away. "Now, the children?" You spoke, smiling at the red that dusted her cheeks and the grin on her face.

"Of course, yes, the children." She said, leaving the room with you close behind. The closer you got the louder the synchronized yelled grew.

"Deck the halls with gasoline! Falalalalalalalala!" You heard multiple voices coming from the kitchen, including Emma, Olive, Enoch, Fiona, Millard, Hugh who'd since joined them, and even little Bronwyn who probably just wanted to be included. "Light a match and watch it gleam! Falalalalalalalala!" Alma sighed and moved to stand in the doorway, you beside her to watch the scene unfold. "Now the house is burned to ashes! Falalalalalalalala!" The children singing were joined hand in hand, gathered around the stove of which had been set on fire by Olive. Claire and the twins stood to the side, the girl crying whilst the two tried to comfort her. Horace sat at a table in the corner, somehow ignoring everything and reading a book. "Aren't you glad we played with matches? Falalalalalalalala!"

They were about to continue, redoing the entire little song but Alma interrupted. "And what's happening here?" She said with a misleading smile. Everyone turned to face her, even Horace looked up from his book.

"Miss Peregrine, you're back!" Olive yelled running over to hug her ymbrynes leg.

Alma patted the top of her head. "Yes dear, I'm glad to be human again." She turned to the wards that had been singing. "Onto more pressing matters." She said, glaring. "Emma, Olive, put out that fire. Enoch, Hugh, Millard, Fiona, please begin your daily chores. Brownwyn, go play in the yard with Claire and the twins. Horace, thank you for not partaking in this event. You're relieved from your chores for the day, I'll have one of these ruffians take care of them."

At her word everyone kept into action. Horace thanked her and left, probably to go and sit amongst the topiaries rereading a good book. Bronwyn didn't need to be told twice and gladly left with the other children to play. You assumed that the girl would be talked to later but this was Alma's way of getting Claire to cheer up. Enoch, Millard, Hugh, and Fiona left to go about their chores which would normally be completed either after breakfast or lunch. And Olive and Emma quickly set out the fire, using a fire extinguisher that was kept around in case Olive accidentally set something aflame. When the girls finished they were both excused to also start their chores.

"I cannot believe them sometimes." Alma sighed, leaning against the wall.

You laughed a bit, looking around the room that would be completely fixed after reset. "I can." You walked over to Alma grabbing her by the hand and pulling her away from the wall, leading her to the porch where you finally sat down on a bench, her next to you. "But no matter how many stunts they pull, I could never love them any less. And you know you couldn't either." You said, gently nudging her.

She sighed though not without a smile on her face. "I suppose you're right. I couldn't live without them." She said, looking out at her children as they went about, playing, reading, and doing chores. She turned back to you and her grin widened a bit. "Just as I couldn't live without you. I love you, Y/n."

You stared at her for a moment, she got nervous under your gaze and began playing with her hands in her lap and averting her gaze. She looked back when she heard you laugh a bit. "Oh, Alma, I love you too." You took her hand in yours, resting your head on her shoulder. "I could never live without any of you either. Not now that I know how amazing the place truly is, with all of you." You said, smiling to yourself as you looked out at the children. Alma hummed in response, leaning her head against yours.

And for once, everything was perfect.

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And we can end this story with a quote from our beloved Eva;

"Oh my god, I feel so drunk." -Eva Green during a interview.