"I'd rather be lonely than by your side."
『 ▬ ❖ 』
The particular way the words caress Katherine’s jagged tongue provokes in her body an almost undetectable flinch. Each syllable pierces right through her bones, and venom filters through hidden cracks even Elena wasn’t aware existed at all. Though crystalline layers threaten her chocolate hues, they are held back; the doppelgänger is determined to not break down before her, switching to another emotion —anything to not demonstrate the pain.
❝ Couldn’t have expected any less from the Katherine Pierce. ❞ she voices, hints of ire sneaking into her mouth as both arms fall to her sides.
❝ Don’t you get tired of it? Running away? L o n e l i n e s s? ❞ She ambles forward, brows closing in. ❝ Survival—that’s your motive, that’s your excuse, ❞ for a second it gets louder, then silence drops amidst both entities, amidst the mirror that doesn’t reflect either of them.
Jaw tights, gaze softens & she gulps one, two—even three times to make sure the lump is gone.
❝ What are you so scared of? ❞
The master degree on Holding onto Hope seems worthless now; Katherine always validates her dilemma. Truth doesn’t seem to get along with poison and claws and survival, and Elena has learned this is in all the wrong ways. It’s useless now to expect a different outcome. It’s useless now to expect what Katherine could see as a weakness be confessed.
Before sadness and rage becomes disappointment, she interjects.❝ But what’s another couple of decades to five hundred years in the run, right? ❞
『 ❖ ▬ 』
