2. Time to Say Goodbye.

10 Damons and Mariella were in the Azores, Damon was furious with Mimi's thing, still planning to do more, Mariella had tried to unload them all, and Damon had ordered that no one could look at the past, no need to witness that. He was no longer her husband, her doctor, not even her vampire husband, and he had ripped away everything from her, flank organ, collar, chakras, magic symbol as she was nothing to him. After they had been there furiously fucking, ranting for two months, Damon got the invitation.

It was a simple white, unembellished card, addressed to the pack, and pack leader, and it said. 'You are hereby asked to attend Mimi Springcove's memorial. Your status as her ex-husband and former pack leader is granting you one last time to see her and say your goodbyes. A single flower is wished. ' It was not signed and Damon thought bitterly in his mind that the weak loser had poisoned herself and gone into the coffin and now everyone can say goodbyes to her. He did not even try to find her. 

He told this to Mariella, and she wanted to pack to visit as was asked. They could behave, but there would not be any big emotional goodbyes. Damon could show everyone that she was simply sleeping and not wanting to face her actions, and it would be a good time to get her awake and ruin that memorial. The bitterness that had poisoned his heart, spread to every Salvatore, and Mariella was thrilled. They all hated Mimi, truly hated her and not one wonderful memory came through. Now this pack could see their potential without Mimi's pervasive memories.

It was time for Mimi's Memorial Day. Each of the salvatores had a black suit, with golden insignia S for Salvatore, and Mariella had a tasteful but sexy black dress. She was waiting for this. The memorial would be kept in Moldovan castle, of course, Mimi's favorite place, and this time Damon was not gonna give so easily everything to Mimi as per divorce but he would pay money and keep most of the houses, Mariella had wanted that way.

She had grand plans for so many of them. What no one in the pack knew, was that insignificant fact their thoughts were clouding Freya's spell. She had cast this ever since the trap had been set and it had infected them, and it had spread amongst them. No one could not think clearly without this bitterness overcoming their thought. Charles had just asked them to come an hour early before the memorial would start. He had private matters to be discussed. 

Charles sighed as he heard Salvatores coming. Mimosa was awake, and she had told them about the spell so they could keep their cool. He understood Damon's reaction and bitterness, but he knew that this day was awful. He himself had cried eight hours when he had seen her the first time. He was barely able to keep himself under control right now and once Damon learned the truth; he was not sure if he could take his grief and all the emotions. 

Charles said to Damon as he walked up to pack, "Can I see you for a moment, in another room? "

Damon nodded and followed Charles. He was a little perplexed as to why his mind flooded with such raw, genuine pain from Charles that he did not get it, why it was so awful. 

Charles took him to one room, and said to him, "You know, I don't blame you for your reaction, not anymore, because she asked me to forgive you."

 Charles handed him an envelope but said nothing. Damon looked at the envelope. It was not overly thick, maybe a few pieces of paper; it was written in Mimi's handwriting and he wanted to burn it, but something in Charles's expression made him open it, taking out a few sheets of paper and Mimi's rings. He frowned as he opened the papers. 

Cold thread and raw pain that tore through him his heart felt like agony that he had never felt. He could feel his hands shaking, his heart broken and his soul aching. His telepathy confirmed what the first few lines of the letter had said. Mimi was no more.

"Damon, I don't blame you. I could never blame you for reacting. It is just who you are. When your gaze falls upon these written lines of mine, I shall not exist anymore. I did not sleep with Nick. I almost killed him, and he and Freya set me up. I had to do it; he was about to wake up Annaliese." Damon tried to breathe. It was almost too much. His heart could not beat, it did not find a rhythm.

"My mind is not fully operational anymore so my last message will be too short, and too plain and I know even Mariella was one for you, we had our things, our connection, our love, and our relationship that was stormier and more soap operish one could think of. Don't hate me, I had to save you, save the pack. Charles and Adam know what my wishes are. My love for you has never faltered. Know that even if my existence ends soon, my love for you will be the last thing that I let go of." His hands gripped the paper. Pain tore through him. 

"I have no idea why I gave you all of those memories of mine. Did I have some sort of premonition and I wanted to give you a piece of me, though you might have lost them already? I have memorial stones for you too. I tried to fill them as full as possible, and feelings stones too. So you can use my feelings to give strength in the upcoming days, which will not be easy for you, or the pack."

He hated himself. This was his fault. Full on.

"Please move on, I know that in the long march of time, I will fade from your mind, I will be just one more fling, one more woman in your life, but this little woman loved you with her heart, her scarred, blackened heart and don't be sad when you lose me from your memory, move on and live your life with Mariella and pack. Maybe part of me will be on with our children and cubs, and that has been such an honor to have your children, our children, our cubs. My love, I would have so much to say, but rage is not enough and soon the rest of me is gone. Mimi."

Damon could not think. He was unable to act, and this soul-crushing pain was too much for him to handle. But he kept his expression and nodded just to Charles. He could not utter a word.

Charles said to him, "Soon we shall go and say goodbye to her. Her body is still alive but as per her wishes, there will be a semipublic viewing for the fleas, it has not yet been announced. Colin will terminate her before that, so she will die. She has no straps. There is none. Her coffin is actually capable of burning her body so it will be done after public viewing and then ashes are placed into an urn hidden in this castle cellar and Wulfe will put a spell that prevents her body from regrowing, so no evil sarks can get to her body. Her wishes." 

There was no word that Damon could get out. He was paralyzed, and not even Mariella felt anything at this time. He stood up and followed Charles to the rest of the pack. He had shared her letter with them and Mariella was crying in the arms of number two.

Adam said, "Boys do not want to be in human form anymore. They are taking this badly and I am not sure if they will stay in the pack."

Damon just nodded. He had such a pain in his soul that it almost paralyzed him.

Charles said, "I give you those stones after you have said your goodbyes."

His voice was somber, quiet, and the pain was more than evident. 

Number four was shocked. He tried to think, something inside him was bursting and even number one was silent. They all were shocked, and they tried to find her, but no, there was only emptiness, no Mimi. When Charles then led them into a little room where there was a coffin bottom of it was steel and the top part was glass, Mimi lay there. Her eyes were open, blank, subtle rise of the chest telling him that her body was alive, but there was no mind.

He walked up to that coffin and kneeled next to it, crying. He wanted her back, his Mimi. He could feel himself coming back, not being anymore part of the whole but being himself, the one who loved Mimi more than he loved Mariella.

Number four was desperate, and that desperation made Damon, who once was with Mimi, come back. He was no longer all fused, but this side of him took over, not going anywhere and it was felt throughout their bond that tied all salvatores. There was now one among them who was different, who was not just the same as others, but he wanted to be himself. 

Mariella could not think, the pain was too much, Mimi was not anymore and she could feel Damon's pain. She tried to look around her. There was a pack, boys in their feline forms and wolves in their wolf form. There was also Mimi's five, sitting, everyone wiping their eyes more or less from Dresden and Constantine too. She looked into the future no Mimi and it would lead to the devastating thing, of several salvatores breaking off from the pack, going all over the globe, some of them would go in be fleas, while others would search for something, anything to bring her back. 

Heart of their pack was gone. She was ashamed of her hateful thoughts, even it had been a spell. She had been a weak, not strong semidivine creature that she had always seen herself, but just a fucking machine, a petty jealous bitch. 

There would be only the pack she, number one, two, five, and seven, all the rest of them would be all over the place and she would see them anymore so rarely. Adam and Charles, boys and wolves would be gone too. She would breed but there would not be happiness for a long, long time, because so big part of Damon, even in number one would be fully dead and there would be nothing she could do in order to help him because that part belonged to Mimi. And no Mimi, that part died. 

Number four's pain was something so real that it really touched Mariella's soul and she regretted her vanity of being stuck with number one when all of these were Damon. Yet she was unable to move and then she felt the change. Her potion did not work and something inside her knew that this would be permanent and now there was that Damon, who had loved Mimi, and Mimi had loved him.

Mariella was unsure how would it affect the future, but she knew she had lost him, or maybe she never had him. She had only forced him to be with her. He had told her time after time that you can't force love, but she just did not listen. She had been greedy, and wanted it all, but like a spoiled child, as soon as she had got it, she had thrown them away and gone back to be number one. She had mistreated all of them and now it might be too late for her to make amends, to keep them. They truly had no reason to stay.

 But Dresden had raised his eyes when he saw number four going to Mimi's coffin. The wizard was trying to remember one prophecy. He took out his trusty notebook and started to look it through. Then he found it.

Wulfe, who was sitting next to him, glanced at that prophecy. It told about them too. "The Chosen One will be distraught, but she must not succumb to darkness. There will be one who loves her, one who saves her, one who protects her, one who obeys her, one who heals her, one who teaches her. She must be born again, and only through her dark time she will be stronger. Her family must grow, and she must face her past, her future, and her love, too."

Wulfe said to Dresden," This part told about those seven years and us and Jake too, he was, is the one loving her, and that told you us saving her. I guess I was one the saving her. The healer must be Colin, the teacher is Murdock, the protector is Magnum, and who obeys her is Dexter, her loyal soldier. Like she called him. Funny, in all my years, I have never been anyone's savior. Ever. Not even Mercy's."

Dresden grunted and read on. He was not sure what this next line meant.

"If her soul reacts wrong, she is lost, and she will not be anymore, but only the fourth will save her. His love will be enough, for him to be born again, and by that love, she can be again. Her soul will mend her, but her love, the fourth, will not be gone. He will be permanent. The guardian must face a new future and allow the chosen one to love. She must learn to love, too. This must be told to the pack as the moon is thrice full after the birth of twins of liberation."

Wulfe said, "As I see this, number four is crucial for Mimi to be again and it will be number one, who makes this happen, number one being her soul, number four will be what he will be, the guardian is Mariella and she must face some future, and who the hell are twins of liberation?"

Dresden shook his head and asked, "Should we say anything to Damon?"

Wulfe said, "Not yet, let's wait and see."

He did not dare to hope. His unicorn was lost, but there might be a chance, a slight change, to make it happen. A veritable miracle. But as old Wulfe was, hope was one thing he would not dare to trust. He had been betrayed one time too many.