𝐖𝐄𝐄𝐊 𝐎𝐍𝐄.
After the events of the first, Milla spends a couple of nights in the hospital — but not for her own injuries, her sprained ankle is fine with bandaging and some time spent on crutches. She stays to make sure August wakes up and that he wakes up ( relatively ) okay. He saved her, and she won’t soon forget that; not if the telltale blush that now creeps up her cheeks every time his name is mentioned is any indication.
When he returns to the Institute, Milo is appalled to find out it was attacked. He’s furious. And for once in his life, he finds himself wishing he’d actually been there, where the action was. Milo would have wanted to fight alongside his friends and new family. Over the course of the month he helps Xavier’s repair and rebuild, as much as he can on crutches.
Milo hears about Finley and April, and despite being tangential to both of their lives at the Institute, he understands better than most that they may want space in the wake of trauma. Instead, he hugs Laurel tight — or as tightly as either of their injuries will allow — and tells her he couldn’t be more proud of what she did.
𝐖𝐄𝐄𝐊 𝐓𝐖𝐎.
Monique tells the escapees that Elliott died on 46th Street.
Milo spends the next few days locked in his room with his unresolved grief. He replays the last time he saw Elliott in his mind over, and over, and over again. He thought they’d have more time. Milo really thought they’d have more time to… who knows what. Maybe it was naïve of him to think they’d ever make up, but it was a naïve sentiment he’d been clinging to all the same. Now, he doesn’t even have that to cling to.
Milo shoulders the responsibility of traveling to visit their far-flung ninth: Cassie, who’d left the city to find her and Elliott’s mother. She doesn’t even need him to say anything; the sight of Milo on their doorstep, eyes rimmed red and a shaky ‘I’m sorry’ on his lips tell her and their mother all they need to know.
All Milo can do is think of his own mother, and how little he wants his parents to receive the same kind of news he just delivered, not when they haven’t seen him in eleven years.
𝐖𝐄𝐄𝐊 𝐓𝐇𝐑𝐄𝐄.
It barely rains in June, so when the day of Elliott’s funeral arrives, the sky is incongruously bright. The motley collection of escapees stand apart from the Brotherhood, and Milo tries not to ruin the day’s memory with hatred for them. He knows they aren’t fully to blame. The root of every problem for the nine is and always would be Essex. Essex turned Elliott into what he was. Essex broke and divorced the warm, protective boy Elliott used to be from what he became.
Milo takes an ounce of reassurance in the thought that maybe the real Elliott died years ago. The Elliot that had fought with Milo, threatened him, that wasn’t who he was supposed to be.
It’s cold comfort.
The escapees come to a long overdue and exceptionally difficult decision, and Milo comes to another of his own.
𝐖𝐄𝐄𝐊 𝐅𝐎𝐔𝐑.
For the first time in over a decade, Milo stands on the doorstep of his childhood home. The car in the driveway is the same, and through the window, Milo can see the same worn armchair his dad always sat in.
His mother answers the door, and immediately bursts into tears.
The next couple of hours aren’t easy. Milo has a lot to tell them and a lot to explain. Both of his parents take the news of his being a mutant with passive, carefully metered responses. They offer milquetoast support, evasive ‘we love you no matter what’s, but Milo can tell the news will take time to adjust to. He pushes forward anyhow, and tells them about Essex House. His mother starts to sob again when he shows them his scars, and his father’s fists ball angrily on his knees.
Milo tells them what he has to do, and their support evolves into something much more genuine. His mother wraps him in a hug, one his father soon joins to collect them both close. This time, when Milo cries, it isn’t just tears of grief. An empty space that’d sat deep, deep in Milo’s heart for so long feels a little less empty.
He feels better prepared for what’s to come.
Milo will also, over the course of June, slowly but surely start introducing Milla to friends and found family. Please feel free to assume your muse may now know! If you’d like to headcanon in more detail, my DMs are always open.
