A Peculiar Time in 1944 - A Millard Fanfic (Miss Peregrine's Home) #wattys2020

Chapter 83

"A failed experiment is nothing to be sorry for. It's how scientific progress is made." {Myron Bentham, pg 260 book 3}

Seven Stages of Grief: Stage Seven – Acceptance, finally finding the way forward (although Aurora's way forward isn't exactly as promising as she hoped it would be)

MILLARD POV

Millard was still panting heavily trying to shake the nightmares out of his head when he heard static from one of the guard's radios. There was a short response before he was cut loose from the chair and dragged from the room. He didn't bother trying to take in his surroundings, even if he did have the energy to get loose he'd never find his way through the maze of tunnels. They passed one room with the door slightly cracked open and he heard struggling inside, when he turned his head he saw Melina trying to fight off several guards as they strapped her to a metal table. Behind the chaos was a wight wearing a white lab coat and a breathing mask with a syringe in his rubber gloved hands. Millard realized what was happening at once and feared he was being taken to a similar room to have his soul sucked out of him and in his terror he found the strength to fight back. He thrashed against the firm grip of the guards as they dragged him into another room and pushed him down onto his knees not letting go of his arms. He was relieved to see it lacked the medical equipment he'd seen in Melina's room. However, his relief was short lived as he looked across the room and saw Caul with an evil grin on his face. Behind him, held by a single wight was Aurora. She had a red and black flannel tied by the sleeves around her waist. Over the clothing she'd gotten from the gypsies was a brown button up and she'd let her hair down to help cover her face. He almost smiled at seeing his cap on her head but it wasn't enough to fight off the dread that had settled in his stomach at seeing her now at Caul's mercy as well.

AURORA POV

Aurora had never seen so much of Millard before; he had a cut on one side of his forehead, the blood had dripped down around his left eye and on his right cheek he had another wound that had bled profusely and it looked like he'd gotten a bloody nose, his mouth had been wiped clean- probably by his sleeve judging from the blood she saw on the fabric – but the rest of the blood had dripped down to his jaw. It had all dried, thankfully, but it gave his face a morbid outline that made Aurora's heart ache at the pain they must have put him through. The back of his shirt was sliced to ribbons and the once white stripes were now dyed red.

When he looked at her he started silently crying, the only way she knew this was because his tears were wiping the blood away as they fell down his face.

"Impersonating your beloved ymbryne proved to be much more useful than I originally thought it would be." Caul began to lecture them, "Seeing you two, how much you risked for each other, how you always made sure you were side by side, I knew it wouldn't take long before Aurora came to our front door." He walked over to her and started running his fingers through her hair making Aurora cringe and Millard tried to break free of his guards again. "Poor Millard suffered the brunt of my anger when I realized my men had lost two of the peculiars I most needed, but just like Aurora, it's only a matter of time before Jacob comes to try and rescue his friends."

Aurora knew why he wanted Jake, with his ability to control hollows Caul must have known his brother would be looking for him as well, and the last thing he wanted was Bentham's Panloopticon machine functional again. But that still didn't explain why he was so upset at losing her.

"Why did you need me?" she asked in a quiet and fearful voice as Caul stopped playing with her hair to run a finger under her chin, letting the pad of his finger caress her jawline.

"You, beautiful, have a very unique talent, one that I have a greater use for than healing a few children's bumps and bruises."

As if on cue a large metal door she hadn't noticed opened and three wights entered with machine guns; but the weapons weren't for the two peculiars in the room. There was the sound of heavy footsteps and a harsh breathing that almost sounded like snarling. Aurora turned to Millard and saw him looking back at her both of them fearful of the same thing – the hollow that had just entered the room. Caul took her chin in a firmer grip making her look at him in his white colorless eyes.