Waking Up

By: tomieharley

Disclaimer/Author's notes: Several things I need to say here. First, I do not own any characters of the S-Cry-ed series. Second, please review if you have the time. Third, if anyone has any challenges involving Mimori and Cougar please let me know. They're my favorite couple! And I get stuck for ideas very easily.

Mimori Kiryu lay in an uneasy comatose state. Three days had passed her by but it might as well have been an eternity.

Beneath those closed eyelids, she watched her life pass her by. Disjointed and fragmented, her dreams were. Their lengths and emotions they aroused in her varying. Some are happy causing her to smile or a giggle to burst out from tomblike lips, sealed for too long.

However, the bad ones are also present. These are the most fragmented and painful to watch, so she tosses and turns in sweat-slicked sheets. She moans due to phantom pains long since felt. Tears escape from underneath her closed eyes; she's vulnerable now and can no longer hide from the world as well as from herself. Right now, she's drowning among bad dreams. No matter how hard she struggles to free herself, they stick to her limbs like only glue could do. Her despair acts as an invisible enemy pulling her further and further down beneath its murky black surface. Traveling further down, various bad memories began to replay themselves in her mind.

Wolf-like face of Mujo grins evilly at her right before he stabs her with her own pendant.

Cougar's body suspended in the air, withering in pain, as his alter power is absorbed by Mujo.

She's on a date with Ryuhou. They're walking on the boardwalk, looking out at the ocean, when he turns to her and tells her he wants her to return to the mainland because she's wasting her time with him since he no longer cares for her.

Her car spins out of control towards the edge of an uncompleted bridge.

Her crystal pendant, a gift from Ryuhou, is shattering on the floor. Its pieces scattered among a forming puddle of blood; her blood, spilling from the wound it left in her chest.

Scheris sticking her tongue out at her when Ryuhou isn't looking.

Suddenly, she hears a voice not apart of this dream, somewhere beyond her world. The Holy corridor she stood in darkens. She closes her eyes to allow her to better concentrate on the mysterious voice. The voice calls out to her several more times. It belongs to a male, a young one, and is familiar sounding.

"Mimori," he whispers to her right

His voice sounds so close Mimori's eyes fly open as she whips her head around, but no one is beside her. She's alone.

"Mimori," the man says again. This time he sounds farther away, much farther away. "You can't die on me. Please don't die. Not when I finally found you."

Dying? "I can't be dying, can I?" she calls out, hoping he might reply. But no one replies.

Her voice sounds so strange to her but maybe that's because of the acoustics of the room she's in, Mimori reasons as she glances up at the very high ceiling. Her body rests against one of the many stone pillars lining the walkway.

Her hands feel wet and sticky. She lifts them up to see a small opening in her chest. The wound bleeds profusely. No matter how hard she tries to stop the bleeding, the puddle around her continues to grow bigger. Although she had seen more blood than this before, she couldn't help but feel nauseous at the sight of her own, especially at how fast it was flowing out of her. The room began to tilt and she knew she needed to get help before she passed out, but even so, she would be unable to: her left leg was bent out at an odd angle. She was going to die here just like Cougar had she realized, when she noticed his lifeless body laying a few feet away.

It's my fault. This is my punishment, she thought still staring at Cougar's body. He's dead because of me. I let him come because I knew I could not fight alone. Scheris could. Mimori remembered how Scheris walked alone down the other tunnel with no hesitation whatsoever. But I couldn't.

Since coming to the island, I've always needed Cougar to rescue me. Did I ever give him anything in return for his kindness, his selflessness, his love? Only death.

And pain.

The world around her began to dissolve into a sparkling glow engulfing her completely. Thinking it was death finally she stopped struggling and gave herself up to it. Then she knew nothing more.

The next time she opened her eyes, Mimori found herself standing in a very familiar hallway. Something she was sure to have seen in a science fiction movie or in a creepy video game of Ryuhou's they might have played when they were children. But when she heard Cougar and Mujo arguing, she realized where exactly she was. The only problem was what to do now. For some reason, confusion gripped her lower body paralyzing her entirely.

In front of her, through the darkness, she would find Ryuhou. She was sure of it. A gentle jerking on her necklace caused Mimori to peer down at it. The crystal, acting as a homing beacon, lightly jumped off of her chest every time she faced the darkness. Almost in a trance, she started to take a step forward when the shouting behind her grew louder. Mimori unconsciously found herself walking towards the source.

"It's so unfortunate," Mujo was saying. "Your emotional investment will yield no return."

"I know that already," Cougar replied. "It doesn't make a difference to me. Because I love that reckless girl"—Mimori gasped unable to help herself before she could slap her hand over mouth—"who's so obviously fascinated with Ryuhou. She's strong. Worth falling in love with. Worth spending the rest of my life for. I have finally found the true essence of culture!"

No more dialogue issued forth from either as they began to fight.

Mimori stood in the shadows thinking hard and crying hard. She felt as if someone had switched on a light bulb over her head. In seven years, she never once considered any guy but Ryuhou in a dateable light, but now, she wasn't so sure how she felt about Ryuhou. Or Cougar, for that matter.

She would be lying if she said she never fantasized about going out with Cougar sometimes. Some days, Ryuhou could just be so cold and mean that she was constantly amazed at her restraint over not slapping him. And she knew Cougar liked her. She wasn't completely clueless. However, what she hadn't counted on were Cougar's feelings being a lot stronger than a simple crush or passing fancy. After all, he based his entire life on speeding through things to reach the end as quickly as possible. So how could she know he actually possessed a patience gene?

Cougar's screams cut into her thoughts. Mimori futilely clamped her hands over her ears. They were so horrible and loud she was sure they would bring the fortress down on them all. Instead, something like a dam within Mimori burst open, freeing Mimori of her confusion over these two men.

That's how she discovered she loved Cougar. And why all those things Cougar said felt like déjà vu to her. Because he repeated everything she already knew in her heart about him. The very things she tried to deny.

She slipped the crystal necklace off her neck. She clutched the crystal in her hand, its sharp sides biting into her soft palm. Scheris deserved Ryuhou. It had been Scheris who had marched into the unknown alone to look for Ryuhou. Mimori took Cougar, who knew he might not survive the mission but followed her anyway. If she truly loved Ryuhou, then she would have gone and not worried about taking protection. How could she have expected Ryuhou to love someone who could not give love in return? Or for Ryuhou to take seriously someone who possessed no alter power?

But Cougar didn't care about any of her flaws and there were plenty she knew. But he loved her anyway. He placed his faith in her strength. She gripped the pendant tighter until she felt her blood began to leak out onto the floor. Her fear about what might happen in there slipping out of her as well. To herself, Mimori promised she would save this man and this time, she would show him how much he meant to her.

As Mimori ran toward the room lit with a strange white glow, she prayed silently for God to give her a second chance with Cougar. Over and over she repeated her mantra until she hit the white light.