I was at the beach again. The cat came next to me again and said, "You hibernated. Now you can stay here as long as your hibernation lasts. Don't be afraid; it won't be forever. Enjoy. You know I'm a male, so if you need that kind of company..."
I looked at the cat for a long time and said, " Really? I'm not about to do that right now, but there are a couple of guys over there I could talk to for a minute."
God got up and walked away. I went to see my family, my mother, and my sister. There were lots of people there, people who had died, some even before I was born. A unique opportunity to get to know my roots. Oh, I couldn't wait to tell them what I had become and had already been through.
All the trauma and memories of the facility were not in my mind now. There was always this tremendous, wonderful peace here. This would obviously be my reward. I was happy to accept it. Even though I didn't remember everything, at least not right away, I remembered to enjoy the moments, to live in the moment.
Damien was cursing in his mind, his little stunt of going to see Mimi had woken Damon up and he had fought from then on to get to the surface. He said nothing to Sark like he probably would have, but as usual, looked at him like he was so fucking much better and just sneered dryly.
Damien knew his time in charge was ending, but yes, these months had been perfect. He hadn't really been in the pack at all when he'd been working, and he wouldn't give Damon many memories now. But then, when Mimi escaped, Sark fled, and the whole horseshit facility burned down; Damien let Damon push to the surface, disoriented, after a long blackout with only a few memories of what Damien had allowed him to remember.
Damon didn't want to feel. Ever since he'd realized he'd run away from the pharmaceutical facility with Adam and they'd left Mimi behind, he'd been trying to save Mimi. But Mimi had been moved elsewhere, and though Damon searched and searched, he couldn't find her. He was having blackouts; he was restless.
He knew Mimi was going through something terrible, and somehow, he was guilty or hadn't done enough. He remembered nothing for months, just that they were running in the woods, and he remembered locking the window so Mimi wouldn't get away, and he did not know why. Why he had left Mimi at the mercy of the enemy, he just couldn't remember.
Mimi had been gone for eight months. Four months ago, he had regained consciousness and searched for Mimi. Adam had been working for Bran and just looked at Damon for a long time. As if he had done something to Adam, but Damon himself remembered nothing.
Damon had looked for Mimi, and then somehow Adam had realised that Mimi hadn't gotten away. Adam was furious with Bran. He had yelled at him for hours that Bran had lied about Mimi being okay. When he fucking could have been looking for her for four months.
Adam went berserk with rage and called Magnum and Higgins, who came over. They got pissed off, too, because they didn't know Mimi was missing. Samuel had played Mimi's voicemail. Magnum's rage had been palpable. Damon had walked away when he couldn't bear to be around Bran after Magnum and Higgins had told him what the jelling had been like and what had happened during and after.
They recounted Mimi's abortion, and Damon had gone to Medbay to read it. He had vomited at the thought. He remembered little about the whole damn gelling either, just that he'd been furious for some reason, and of course, Bran had then used it to his advantage, kept him furious, and abused Mimi as a sex toy for months. Bran was a beast—a rapist.
Damon thought he would take her far away if he ever got Mimi back. For himself, his rage was so full he couldn't think of anything. Then he would always have another break. Even now, he was walking in the woods, suddenly full of rage against Mimi. He wanted to show Mimi, beat her, stab her. His teeth were dripping different substances as he reeled in his head what he wanted Mimi to experience.
Damon's core was fighting with everything it had to help the part that was in control. Damien had been trying all along to prevent this core from getting stronger and coming forward. He hadn't been able to put it in a cage, but he was trying to manipulate its rage and get it to be angry with Mimi.
This ignited Salvatore's rage, which now hit harder than ever before, making Damon a raging beast. Normally, Damon would have attacked people and started a massacre in some village or town, but he was walking in the woods. Salvatore's rage kept Damon in his grip, and he walked through the forest deep in the Missouri.
Although it was spring, there was still snow and quite a lot, but the spring sun in the daytime was already warming up the trees; the birds were singing in the trees, but Damon walked through the forest, rage present. He had left behind him fallen trees as he had literally unloaded his rage on the tall giant trees until they fell. He was sometimes as a wolf, mauling moose, or whatever he could catch. He unleashed his fury.
A mother bear and her cubs came into view. He considered whether to attack, but he let the bear be. The rage subsided, and despair, bitterness, and loss took over. He watched the bear for a while. The wind shifted, and he smelled the animal's potent scent, but there was a hint of something familiar.
For some reason, the bear smelled familiar. It immediately brought Mimi to her mind. He was still wandering in his thoughts. Again, that smell. Damon went to investigate the cave where he had located the scent. There was a mound of clothing at the very back of the cave. Damon crept closer. It was human. Must have been around for a while, a mummy.
When Damon laid eyes on the ring adorning Mimi's left hand, a wave of realization washed over him. The sight of it confirmed his worst fears - the lifeless figure before him was indeed Mimi. He sank to his knees, his voice trembling as he struggled to form coherent words. "Baby, no... please, no. Come on..."
The weight of what had been done to Mimi pressed heavily on his heart. They had taken her life, snuffing out her immortality. Unable to sense his wife or hear the comforting rhythm of her heartbeat, Damon knew the truth - she had been killed. The sight of her mummified body, preserved in the frigid cold, was a stark reminder of his role in her demise. Tentatively, Damon reached out and touched the desiccated form, fearing it might crumble to dust in his hands.
He couldn't bear to leave Mimi here, alone. He had to bring her back, to give others the chance to say their goodbyes. The thought of organizing her funeral weighed heavily on him, his mind a whirlwind of confusion. He had betrayed her, and now she was paying the ultimate price. The realization of his failure as a husband and his inability to notice her passing months ago left him with an overwhelming sense of emptiness.
Sobbing, Damon remained in the cave for hours, his grief consuming him. Eventually, he mustered the strength to lift Mimi's frail body. It was light, dried up, and his tears stung his eyes throughout the journey. The pain in his soul was relentless, and amidst the turmoil, he struggled to comprehend what he should do next.
The absence of Mimosa compounded the loss. Nowhere to be found, it became clear that Mimosa had also met a tragic fate. Damon's tears froze on his cheeks as he held the brown mummy in his arms. He whispered an apology to the lifeless figure, carrying it through the snowy woods towards his car. Occasionally, his heart would hit one time harder, as if learning to beat without his half. And every so often, the gentle spring breeze brushed against Damon's neck, a bittersweet reminder of the peace he had yet to find. He hoped Mimi had found peace or she would be in a better place.
Damon's experienced eyes detected signs of trauma on the mummy's form. She had endured a prolonged ordeal at the facility, attempting to escape but never making it to safety. Instead, she had sought refuge at the back of the cave, her final sanctuary.
Damon carefully laid Mimi's lifeless body in the plush back seat. He paused for a moment, his trembling hands struggling to hold back the tears. He wiped his tear-stained eyes with a determined swipe, mustering the strength to drive away. The emptiness in his chest was overwhelming, as if his heart threatened to beat in solitude. Without Mimi by his side, his existence felt hollow and meaningless.
Damon's mind raced as he peered ahead, desperately trying to fathom how he would carry on, but the answer eluded him. The thought of spending the rest of his days confined to a coffin, devoid of Mimi's presence, consumed him. Suddenly, that sound echoed through the air once more, piercing his thoughts. Damon's curiosity grew, wondering what had been done to Mimi, what horrors the autopsy would uncover. The mere notion of performing the last surgery on her, dissecting her lifeless form, sent his heart pounding in his chest.
Approaching an intersection, Damon found himself next to a parked car, and there it was again, that sound resonating like a faint heartbeat. Bewildered, he couldn't pinpoint its origin, but he knew it didn't emanate from within himself. Damon's anticipation heightened as he waited, hoping to hear it once more—a soft thump. The pain in his soul seemed to ease slightly, replaced by a delicate trace of their once-intense bond.
Then, a memory surfaced - Mimi's previous attempt at hibernation, a desperate act that had left her body drained of its vital fluids. Could it be possible that Mimi was hibernating again? Damon dared not let hope ignite within him. Determined, he halted the car, retrieved a sports bag from the trunk, and retrieved the stethoscope. Placing it gently against Mimi's chest, he listened intently. Thump. Mimi's heart, though feeble, still beat. Simultaneously, Damon felt a gentle rush of air caress his cheek, showing that Mimi was barely breathing. It was indeed a hibernation, but how could they escape this predicament? Would she ever recover?
"Hang on, baby. Please, just hang on," Damon pleaded, his voice laden with desperation.
Damon's voice crackled through the phone as he urgently spoke to Samuel, his words filled with a mix of excitement and concern. "Samuel, it's Damon," he began, his voice tinged with a hint of disbelief. "I found Mimi. She's hibernating."
In his mind's eye, Damon could see the scene before him. The sight of Mimi lying dormant in the cave sent a shiver down his spine. "I thought she was dead at first," he continued, his voice trembling slightly. "She was in the cave when I smelled a familiar scent in the air, the scent of a mother bear."
The image of Mimi, her once lively form now reduced to a mere shadow of her former self, flashed through Damon's thoughts. "She weighs less than 10 kilos," he explained, his voice filled with concern. "She's completely mummified, her body preserved by the icy embrace of hibernation."
Damon's senses heightened as he described the scene to Samuel. "Her heart beats rarely," he said, his heartbeat pounding in his ears. "But it beats, and so does her breathing."
Realizing the urgency of the situation, Samuel quickly responded, his voice filled with determination. "Yeah, I'm already in Chicago," he said, the sounds of bustling city life faintly audible in the background. "I'm getting things ready, and we're trying to get the hibernation reversed. Drive as fast as you can."
Damon's grip tightened on the steering wheel as he absorbed Samuel's words. "Alright, I'll be there as fast as I can," he replied, his voice filled with determination.
He hung up the phone, the sound of the dial tone echoing in his ears, and pressed the gas pedal to the floor. With the engine roaring and the wind rushing past him, Damon embarked on a race against time, his senses heightened, his mind focused on the task at hand.