•MPHFPC ONE SHOTS•

<=BACK TO THE ROOTS=> (Part 2)

[SPOILERS FOR THE DESOLATIONS OF DEVIL'S ACRE! And also trigger warning: suicide]

Smoke was still rising up from the ground, each street and alley having turned into their own little Smoking Street. Houses had been used as punching bags by the monsters the wights had become, whose dead bodies were now scattered across the Acre, some on the burned ground and some dramatically lying limp on rooftops. Their fighting had been for nothing—they were dead, their leader alive, but behind bars and left with no powers.
Miss Peregrine and Myron walked down a street, side by side. Both had the same sour expression aimed at the place around them.
"You don't seem fazed." Miss Peregrine pointed out.
"No. I've seen all of this happen. Saw it through his eyes." Myron said, suddenly disgusted by the recurring memories of it.
Ash softly rained down on their clothes and Myron sometimes took off his hat to shake it all off, only to end up getting ash in his hair, too. This was not some leftover of Caul's desolations, though, but ash from houses and other things that had burned during the battle.
Lastly, they stopped in front of Myron's house and he gaped at it, sighing in relief.
"Your house is one of the still standing buildings." Miss Peregrine said. "It even kept ninety-nine of us peculiars safe for a little while."
Myron slowly approached his house, taking off his hat. "When Jack got so close to it," he said, remembering the scene. "I thought it was lost for good."
There was still evidence of the havoc Caul had caused around the house—there, where his personal tornado had spun, was a wide and not too deep trench surrounding a part of the house. But the Quilt stopped Caul from moving on to Myron's house. Other than its surroundings, his house seemed to be in top shape, except for some scratches.

The trench was luckily a bit narrower at the front door and Myron simply hopped over it and held out a hand to his sister and with his help she crossed it, too. Myron opened the door and an oh my God escaped his lips. He held the door open for Miss Peregrine while putting a hand on his forehead, not believing his eyes. "I'm home again, actually home." he said. "I didn't think I'd see this place again."
"I must mention that some things have changed, though." she said to him. Myron turned to look at her, alarmed. "What has changed?" he asked, turning a bit pale.
"We decided to bring your Panloopticon to good use, for example." Miss Peregrine replied. "Peculiars here can use it to travel to places in an easier way now. Sort of like a main station. I suppose that is its purpose, yes?"
"Yes...that's good to hear. If only I could have been there when you started using it." Myron said, colour returning to his face. "I almost thought you meant the..."
"Wax figures?" she said, sternly and at that Myron's eyes widened, again. "Yes, we gave them a new home and they're currently being watched over and taken care of."
Myron looked pained and didn't reply to any of that. He knew what he had done and there were no excuses to cover anything up with. Soon he would have to confront his crimes, but so would his brother, who was the most guilty.
From the depths of the hallway, a little man came running, one side of his hair messed up. "Mr. Bentham!" he called out, flapping his hands in excitement.
"Nim!" Myron said and laughed, as Nim embraced him in a hug, making him stumble a little.
"It's so good to see you again, sir!" he said, barely being able to contain his joy.
"I missed you, too, Nim," Myron replied, then patted Nim's back. "but I need to talk to my sister in private now." They let go of each other and Nim vanished back into the direction he came from. They also met Sharon on their way to the library, but he only greeted Miss Peregrine and didn't even look at Myron.

"Nim has helped us, too." Miss Peregrine said, as they entered the big library. "He showed us the copy of the list of ingredients that the wights were using to resurrect our brother. Only that by then, we were a bit too late."
The two siblings sat down on the sofa, as if preparing for a harsh conversation.
"Percival Murnau." Myron guessed. "It was him, wasn't it?" Miss Peregrine nodded at that and a chill went through her brother. "That's no surprise. I never liked him, he never liked me."
"We thought we had won and that he needed my heart." Miss Peregrine explained. "Which wasn't very pleasant information, either, considering he was still out there, but at least we were expecting him to come back for me. So we thought we had control over the situation."
Myron shifted uncomfortably, looking around for something—probably for PT—but he soon stopped, remembering his grimbear wasn't around anymore. In stressing moments, he would always seek comfort by patting and hugging PT.
"But you didn't have control over the situation." Myron assumed.
"No. We certainly didn't." she said. "It wasn't mine, but Velya Greenshank's heart that Murnau needed—and eventually obtained."
Myron nodded, knowingly. Then there was a crushing silence between the two. There was so much to say, but all that was a struggle to put into words. For now, they just silently prepared for the rest of their conversation.