An Ymbryne's Secret
We all know how Miss Peregrine's brother Caul would abuse her when they were children. Pinching her to make her cry and plucking out her feathers when she turned into a bird. But what if those cruel acts only got worse when they got older? Miss Peregrine is hiding a secret. One none of her children know, or will ever know.
Movieverse. Also describes what I think would have happened after the movie. I am kind of mixing the history of the book (LOS) to the events of the movie. So it will all make sense if you have done both. I love Eva Green and cannot picture Miss Peregrine any other way. She was born to play the part and Tim Burton knew it, as she was his one and only choice for the part. So I am using the visions of the movie while combining the history of the books. I hope it works well. Please review!
All of Miss Peregrine's children have emotional scars, but only a few have some on their bodies. Like Hugh for example. Hugh has a few on his arm from when he once made the mistake of giving Claire a hug, wrapping one arm around her head to pull her closer. Thankfully her back mouth only bit hard enough to make him pull back, but since those teeth were razor sharp they made Hugh bleed. Alma was just relieved that unless you were looking closely for those scars, you couldn't see them. She couldn't bear the thought of seeing those scars on his arm everyday, and she knew Claire would always feel awful about it, no matter how many time Hugh told her it was okay.
Olive, with her ability over fire, was always in fear of burning someone. It was why she was always careful to make sure she had on her gloves before she touched anyone, or anything. But when her and Enoch began their relationship, that fear only grew. She knew that she could never touch the boy she loved with her hands. She couldn't bear to see him burnt because of her. She would rather burn thousands of Hollows and cities than to see one scorch march on Enoch's skin. But of course, not everyone was perfect. So now there was a small wrinkled patch on Enoch's upper arm where a burn had healed. He stilled loved her though.
Alma smiled as she watched her children leave for their daily walk. The new home they had found reminded them much of their old one. It was large enough for everyone to have their own room, though of course the twins shared one. They had more than enough garden and backyard for them to play. With the extra space they had Fiona helped create a greenhouse for her plants and for a place where everyone could still enjoy the beautiful nature even when it was raining. She even added topiaries and greenery that made everything feel like home. Not far from their home and but not close enough to the loop entrance either, there was large beautiful lake her children would walk around. Their new home was perfect. It kept the memories of their old loop while giving them all a chance to move on.
Miss Peregrine knew their battle with Mr. Barron and the Hollows took a toll on her children, but she was never more proud of them. They had fought bravely and won. They told her she taught them well. She turned back into the house and gently closed the door, her smile quickly fading. There were two reasons she always had her children go for a daily walk, even if they came back early. She wanted them to have exercise for one, even if they had enough playing in their backyard. Second, while she adored her children with all her heart, caring for eleven could take its toll on anyone. Including the youngest and most gifted ymbryne ever known. So Miss Peregrine always sent them out for at least an hour so she could have some personal time for herself. A moment where Millard wasn't running around naked, Hugh's bees weren't swarming around, or Enoch wasn't causing trouble by prodding Jake out of the house. While Alma knew Enoch was getting along much better with Jake, there were still moments he didn't like the new addition to the family.
Alma looked around her, deciding what to do for her one hour of peace. Before she would straighten up around the house. Though it wasn't always difficult as she had taught her children to be clean and tidy. She was thankful that moving into a new house hadn't disrupted that. Other times she would simply read in the greenhouse. There were a few times she would visit Victor upstairs, cradle his body for a few sweet seconds, remembering when he was still alive. But that wasn't an option anymore. Not only was his eyes and soul gone, but so was his body. She didn't blame her children. She never could. She understood what had happened and accepted it. In fact, she figured it was about time to move on.
Letting out a low sigh Alma made her way upstairs and to her room. Her children recovered quickly from their battle with Barron and his goons, however, she wasn't so lucky. She knew that when she flew into the cage that night that her next hours and days would not be pleasant. She knew that it could very well be the last time she ever saw her children and the last time she was ever free as a bird, quite literally. She had expected torture, pain, and possible death. When her children and Jake had won and all the Hollows were defeated, she returned to her child. Battered and bruised. It took about a week before she could return to her human form. She knew that it wouldn't have been wise doing so when her bird from was severely injured. It could make things worse. After she was able to change back it still took a few more weeks for her arm to heal, which Barron had greatly wounded so it would be extremely difficult for her to fly. But she had, if not to get back to her children, at least to escape Barron when Jake opened her cage. When she felt she was recovered well enough she took back her bird form and was surprised to see how well she was flying.
She closed the door to her room, locking it. She was alone in the house but it always felt safer. But this hour was the only time she ever did lock her door. She had to be ready if her children needed her and she couldn't be fumbling with it. She walked over to her window, covering it with the blinds. Her heart rate quickened. She was thankful her family had survived, but remembering what they had all gone through because of Barron brought back memories she wouldn't show to the sun. Memories that were only safe in her locked room for an hour. She sat down on the edge, placing her head in her hands, trying not to cry. But it hurt. Not what Barron had done to her, but what it reminded her of.
She stood back up, carefully unbuttoning her dress and letting it slip off. It the rays of the sun were shining through her room, she knew they would illuminate the scars on her back. They were old, fully healed before she ever found her children or created her first loop. But she wasn't as young as her children when she first got them. Perhaps a bit older than Enoch and Olive, but not as young either. Flashes of Barron laughing as he plucked a few feathers crossed her mind, but it wasn't his laugh. It was his. Her brother, Caul. Though she use to call him Jack. When Barron took her and placed her in the same room as the other ymbrynes he had captured, Alma couldn't help but notice that she had her own separate cage. She was remained in the one she flew into that night, rather than being joined with the others in the large one. And she knew why.
When Barron appeared at their house with a knife hand at Jake's throat, Alma was terrified. But never of Barron. She was definitely scared of what he could do to Jake, but it didn't amount to the utter dread of fear she felt when she knew where she was going. Barron wasn't the real enemy. He was just the messenger. If she had any other choice that night to protect her children, she would have gladly taken it. It would certainly be better than surrendering herself to that man. When Barron laughed as he went on about his plan and plucked her feathers, all she could see was Caul. His sadistic grin as he looked upon her through the mirror. She began to cry, trying to remember where she was. She was in her room, the door was locked, the blinds were shut, and her children were on their daily walk. She was safe.
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. That was what Jake had called it. She hadn't meant for anyone to see her cry, but he came back one day having forgotten his jacket for their walk and saw her crying. She told him to leave but he refused until he knew she was okay. Jake was slowly becoming part of their family but if she wouldn't allow any of her other children to see her cry, she certainly wouldn't allow Jake. Before leaving back with the others, he quickly explained what post traumatic stress was, saying he suffered a little from his time in the navy. While he never had to experience war, the stories he heard made him feel like he had been there himself. He told her it was okay. He told her that Barron was evil. But she knew it wasn't Barron that was causing her sudden spurts of tears.
She was doing good. Once she found her children and created her loop, she knew she was healed. She never had to worry about her past again. When she would cry, it had to do with her own children being hurt, or when Victor was killed by the Hollow, but never her past. So she was shocked when one night she was in the shower and that night, the night she knew her loop closed while she was in a cage, appeared in her mind and she started to cry. Of course she was scared then, who wouldn't be, but why was she crying? When she recalled her time with Barron, her crying increased. It didn't seem to stop. But after that incident with Jake she always made sure she was alone, locked in her room so her brother couldn't find her. But her brother wasn't here.
He almost was, she thought. She was now curled up in the fetal position on her bed, her arms wrapped around her, trying to reach her silver scars. Caul had hurt her plenty of times before, and yet she always continued to love him. She wondered if that was another gift of the ymbryne's. To possess overwhelming love no matter who hurts you. After all, one had to possess great amounts of love to care for eleven children, right? But she knew the truth. No one could you as much as the people you love. He was her brother. They grew up together in an ymbryne's loop. The ymbryne didn't want them separated. But he was always jealous. He never admitted it to her, Myron did. Her other brother who tried to protect her from Jack, but always seemed to fail. She didn't hate him for it. He tried. And no matter how much Caul hurt her, she always found room in her heart to love him, to love both of her brothers.
Except that one night. She knew she would always hate Caul for that night. Afterwards she still loved him, but not that night. She couldn't. He had come into her room late, holding a knife. She didn't know he was there until he placed his hand on her mouth, telling her in a warning voice not to make a peep. He grinned manically at the pun. He flipped her over, pulling down her dress off her shoulders and resting it around her waist. Her shoulders shaked heavily in her fetal position as she remembered his cold hands touching her pale skin. Than she remembered the piercing of the knife of her back. No, it was on her shoulder blades. While they could both transform into birds and he knew very well the anatomy of that change, with the arms being the wings, he found it much more ritualic cutting her shoulder blades. She counted as he cut. Thirteen. He loved that number while others feared it. He laughed at their stupidity and superstition of the number. He leaned in, his breath on her cheek. She remembered the warning. She cried that night when he left, her blood soaking her sheets. She never told Miss Avocet. She wondered now if it was because she was afraid, but she wasn't. She wasn't afraid of her brother. She loved him. No matter how evil he became, he was her brother. That meant something right? She taught her children to love each other as if they were related, to never hate one another because they were not from the same mother or father. But that night she couldn't. That night she came to realize just how evil her brother could be, something she forced herself to overlook. But somehow she still loved him.
She was still laying on her bed, crying at the memory and the pain. She understood why when she thought of Barron plucking her feathers and laughing at her as he did so, she cried. Because that night, even if it was not her in the real danger of dying like her children, even if Caul was not there at the moment, she remembered. And then all those memories she had thought she forgotten came flooding back while her tears soaked her pillow. Post Traumatic Stress. Jake had said that often times, though not in his case, a bad night like the one they all had with Barron and the Hollows, like the one he knew she had because he was that observant, could unearth memories long forgotten. Memories better off forgotten.
She heard the door open and the lovely sound of her children filling the home. She shot up, wiping her tears as quick as she could and slipping back on her dress. She checked the mirror. She was a mess. She laughed. Miss Peregrine, always time oriented and well kept, looking sophisticated as ever, had her makeup running and her hair loop out of place. She quickly rushed to have everything back in order, though it wasn't too hard. Over the years, always having to be on time and quick when it came to her children, getting herself ready for the day had become a sport of sorts. Just a few minutes passed and she was presentable as any other day. A day where she didn't spend an hour crying over a night that occurred years ago. After all, it didn't matter anymore, right? Her children survived and they could move on. The Hollows were all gone, as was Barron, and she was back home safe with her children. Her arm healed enough for flying and her time in a cage gone. She was free again. But only in the air. The memory of her brother was etched on her back.
She came down the stairs. Her children were already doing their own thing as usual. Enoch went back to his dolls, Hugh and Millard went back outside to play ball, and Horace reading in the living room. They were back and so was she. Safe. Alma saw Jake standing by a doorway, looking at her. No, he was watching and she knew what for. She smiled at him, silently telling him she was okay. He didn't smile back, telling her it was okay if she wasn't. He left her to join Emma and she was alone in the foyer, her children scattered around. She didn't mind. She loved them and it was her job to protect them. She was the ymbryne. They couldn't know the truth. Besides, she had told them once that as long as it never hurt anyone, everyone deserved their own little secret. Did that count in her case?
I hope I did good! Eva portrayed Miss Peregrine as a very strong and independent woman, same as in the books. But in the book (LOS) and the movie, we still see a single tear down her cheek. So a woman being as strong as her and still able to cry I feel must be hiding some dark secret. So I figured it must come from her brother. In the LOS book, he talked about keeping her alive so he could make her his slave, though I didn't want to think what kind of slave. Though he was eccentric, he had the sadistic and malicious streak enough to do something awful to Alma. Besides, what really caught my attention was that as he was dying when the loop closed, his last dying words was his sister's name. Calling out to Alma so he could kill her. I honestly believe there's more than pinching and plucking feathers in the abuse he gave her. We know he was extremely jealous so I thought him having do something like scarring her back where wings would normally anatomically be seemed perfect. Though he could transform into a bird himself, he couldn't make time loops. He didn't have that power of immortality, so he wanted wanted to clip her wings in some way, like he said he would when he conquered peculiardom. I felt perhaps he would first want to clip her free spirit so she never had the chance of becoming the best ymbryne anyone has ever heard of.
Please give reviews, they are awesome! Please tell me what you think. This is my first Miss Peregrine fic and I want to know if I portrayed the movie and book the right way. All my other fics are Once Upon a Time, and one other for Yu Yu Yakkusho. I tried one for Naruto but it didn't work. Anyways, I hope this was good!