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

Chapter 85

"But mourning her was a luxury we didn't have right then." {Jacob Portman, pg 307 book 3}

AURORA POV

There was a loud bang and suddenly the nurse was shouting, "What is the meaning of this?"

Then there was a smell like something burning and a singeing sound before another thud and the sound of a struggle.

"Aurora, Aurora." She heard a small voice call as her arm was shaken repeatedly. She blinked slowly as everything came back into focus, a large circular light above her being the first thing she saw so she turned her head from it and to her right she saw big blue eyes surrounded by messy blonde curls.

"Claire-bear." She said with a small smile as she sat up and looked around. All the others were there, the twins, Bronwyn, Olive, Hugh, Enoch, Horace everyone except Millard and Fiona. The nurse was now a stone statue on the floor courtesy of the twins and there was a scorch mark on the wall from where Olive must have thrown a fire ball.

"Aurora, we were so worried." Olive said as she sat at the foot of her bed, "When we found out you weren't with Emma and Jake. . ."

"Emma and Jacob? They're here?" she asked her mind still groggy.

Olive nodded, "They got us out, now they're after the ymbrynes. We promised to meet them as soon as we found you."

"Millard, is he with them too?"

Olive's eyes turned sad and from behind her Hugh stepped forward, "We were hoping they'd locked you up together but now we can go look for him now that we've got you. I'm sure he'll be glad to know you're okay."

"Ymbrynes first, then Millard." Enoch said from her left.

"Enoch –" Hugh protested.

"No, we've wasted enough time, if we can get the ymbrynes out then they can help us fight off the wights long enough to save every other peculiar here, including Millard."

"But –"

"He's right." Aurora spoke up, though the idea of leaving Millard alone for a second longer than necessary pained her, "It's the most logical plan. Millard would agree."

Enoch shot her a thankful look before turning to the others, "Olive you stay here with Aurora, the twins and Claire. I'll take the others and meet up with Jake and Emma and find Miss Peregrine and her sisters."

oOo oOo oOo

They couldn't have been gone more than five maybe ten minutes and Aurora was already pacing nervously. Olive had helped her out of bed and the first thing she'd grabbed off the bedside table was Millard's cap that she'd been wearing. She kept it clenched between her hands as she paced, dying to know where Millard was and what was happening to him. She knew Caul had promised to leave him be but there was a rock like feeling in the pit of her stomach that told her something was wrong.

"I have to go look for him." she finally said and headed for the door.

"Enoch said to stay here and after what Caul put you through you need as much rest as you can get Aurora." Olive said grabbing her elbow and pulling her back.

"Would you be able to wait like this if it were Enoch?" Aurora asked and Olive's face turned as red as her hair.

"He's going to be so mad when he finds out I let you go." She sighed surrendering to her friend's wishes.

"Come on Liv, we both know you're the only one Enoch can't stay mad at."

That made her friend smile, "Go." She said letting go of Aurora's arm. Immediately the healer ran for the door and pushed it open pausing to look back at her friend one more time before she took off down the hall.

It didn't take Aurora long to realize she had no idea where she was going, every hall looked exactly the same and she was very lucky she hadn't run into any wights yet. Just as she was beginning to lose hope and think Enoch may have been right she heard a small, meow.

She turned to the small cry and smiled when she saw a white kitten sitting by one of the hallways she'd run past. She remembered Addison mentioning how the wights had taken Mira and shoved her in a sack when they raided Miss Wren's loop. Somehow, the little kit must have escaped wherever they'd put her. Mira's tail rested over her paws as Aurora got closer and knelt by her, she patted her small head and scratched behind her ears eliciting a purr from the kitten.

"I'm so glad you're okay Mira."

The kitten swatted at her hand with her paw before standing and heading down the hall. Aurora knew she'd follow the kitten to Millard just as she had that night back in France and she felt hope rise in her chest again. She tried to suppress it, knowing that over the past few days every time she started to hope it only got crushed under the dark reality they were facing. So she tried not to hope, she tried to make herself prepare for the worst, but she couldn't. Hope didn't work that way, it kept fighting until it won.

HUGH POV

They'd found Emma. She was with the ymbrynes in a long rectangular room cluttered with utilitarian furniture and lit from above by greenish fluorescent lights. The room seemed to be impersonating an office but it didn't fool them. Living in a World War II loop they all knew a bomb shelter when they saw one. The walls were spongy with foam soundproofing and the door was thick enough to withstand a nuclear blast.

After Emma relayed Caul's speech over the intercom to them and finished her tale of how she and Jake had freed the ymbryne's she was nearly in tears. Jacob had fallen down a bottomless pit – apparently the home of the hollows and Caul had implied that he had several, much more than Jacob could command. They left Bronwyn and Horace with her while he and Enoch went to get the others they'd left in Aurora's infirmary.

When they arrived and Enoch learned that Olive had let Aurora go off on her own he was clearly upset with her but given the circumstances he shook it off and told her where she could find Emma and Miss Peregrine so she took the younger ones and headed that way. Enoch turned to Hugh and they decided to go hunt down Aurora before she could find any more trouble. As they made their way down the halls they suddenly heard a blood curling scream and they followed the sound knowing it would take them right to her.

When they barged into the room where the scream had come from Hugh immediately stopped dead in his tracks. In the center was a table with restraints but it had been knocked on its side during some kind of struggle. There were metal tables that once held medical equipment that were now sprawled across the floor along with broken glass from a nearby cabinet. Beyond that mess curled up on the floor was Aurora. She was sobbing uncontrollably and didn't even notice they were there until they were only five feet from her. Little Mira was curled up on her side her eyes sad as she rested her head on her paws. But they weren't the ones Hugh couldn't take his eyes off of. In Aurora's lap was Millard, his head against her chest as she held him close and Hugh was horrified at his appearance, mainly because for the first time he actually had one. His skin was light and still covered in blood and for the first time Hugh could also see the bruises. His hair – a darker chestnut brown – was disheveled and his eyes, they were the worst. They were blue like the ocean and they stared off at nothing, there was no recognition in his features at all, only the occasional blink even let them know he was still alive - somewhat. Hugh saw on his heel three thin lines that had scabbed over and he knew they'd been too late, the wights had taken his second soul. . . his best friend was gone.

AN: I'm so so so so so sorry to all of you for what's happened but I became a slave to the writing and my characters and had no choice but to write this. So with that being said please leave a review below telling me how awful this chapter was (I even hated myself while writing it which explains why its short)