𝐋𝐎𝐎𝐊𝐀𝐋𝐈𝐊𝐄 ᵒⁿ ᵍᵒᶦⁿᵍ

xi. upon my worst enemy

"Do you ever think about her?" Katherine asked softly as Eliza kept driving. He remained silent. He did not need to ask who Katherine was talking about. "Every day, Katerina."

"Me too." Eliza nodded. He was sure she was also thinking about their unborn daughter every single day. Katherine felt her eyes getting hot and teary. She closed her eyes but it was no use, she was still crying. "Katerina, it is the thing of the past."

"I had to do it." Eliza sighed and carried his face harshly. "Enough of this -"

"We have crossed paths thousands of times after what happened, but it was always a cat and mouse. We had never talked about it. I know the pain I have endured, but what about you?" Eliza stayed silent again. How did he cope? Killing, slaughtering, drinking, sleeping around; in the worst way. He momentarily closed his eyes, and Katherine watched every move of his as if he were a movie she could not have missed or an experiment she was studying. Either way, Katherine watched him without even blinking.

"Not in ways she would be proud of me." This little comment alone was enough for Katherine to break down in tears. All high and mighty Katherine Pierce was there, looking so small and crying like a little defenceless child. It caught him off guard, the scene before him. It felt like it was fourteen ninety two all over again. He was sad again. All of a sudden, he was slightly in love again. "Why did you do it?"

Katherine was quite silent after that question. Calling her baby, the coletral damage sounded so cruel, yet it was the closest she could have gotten to the truth. "Plan was never to harm her. I just had to become a vampire in order to run."

"Why would you run, Katerina? I could have protected us!"

"You did not deserve a life of fleeing! You deserved better, stability and peace. You were the greatest man I have ever met." Eliza shook his head without any understanding. "Why would you deny me yourself. The only thing I crave..."

He trailed off and stayed silent. He said crave, not craved. Katherine debated it way more than she should have. It was quite ridiculous of her to debate his words. She was no one to him, and he should have been no one to her. Katherine was never successful about getting over her lover, Eliza.

"I thought I was protecting you," she said, her voice barely a whisper. "I thought I was saving you from Klaus's wrath."

"But you didn't save me," Eliza countered, his voice cracking with unshed tears. "You left me behind. You left me to grieve for you, for us, for our child. Katerina, my whole life collapsed when I heard what you had done."

The car fell silent again, the only sound of the hum of the engine and the distant chirping of crickets. Katherine's heart ached. She had run, fleeing Klaus's relentless pursuit, but her own guilt had been a heavier burden. The memory of her baby, the innocent life she'd taken in her desperation, gnawed at her soul.

"I couldn't face you, Eliza," Katherine confessed, her voice choked with emotion. "I couldn't face the pain in your eyes, the disappointment, the anger. I couldn't face the fact that I'd failed you."

Eliza's gaze softened just a little bit, a glimmer of understanding flickering in his eyes.  "I know," he said, "I understand. You were afraid. You were alone. But you could have trusted me. We could have faced it together."

"I couldn't risk it," Katherine whispered, the guilt twisting in her stomach. "I couldn't risk you getting hurt. I thought I was doing the right thing."

"You were protecting yourself," Eliza stated, his voice laced with sadness. "You were protecting your own pain. You were afraid of losing me, just like you were afraid of losing yourself to Klaus."

Katherine turned to look at him, her heart heavy with the weight of her past actions. "I was wrong, Eliza," she said, her voice filled with remorse. "I was a coward. I made the wrong choice. I ran away from everything, from you, from our future, from our child."

Eliza remained silent. There was not much to say in their situation. Katerina was somewhere between fraud and lover. He was not good at drawing the damn line.

Back in the Mikaelson mansion, Rebekah, Klaus, and Kol were looking and going through the spells that could conceal Elena. Without any surprise, it was Kol who found the spell. "You will feel a small amount of pain. Like a little needle stabbing your heart for a second."

"As long as she is safe," Klaus murmured as Elena sent a weak smile to him. "It will be alright, I swear." Rebekah assured Elena, and the doppelgänger sent a grateful smile to the blonde.

Kol was right. As the witch started to chant, Klaus felt the burning of his heart. Elena could not stand just watching him. She walked up to him and held his hand. Her touch helped with every type of pain. He was finally feeling calmer as the witch was finally done. He closed his eyes and sighed deeply. The witch grabbed her grimoires. "No one other than the three of you will be able to see or sense her. Not even me!" The witch laughed, hoping to enlighten the mood. Rebekah smiled to the old witch and nodded. "Thank you so much, Gloria."

The witch left the mansion, and Elena took a deep breath. "I really hope there is a way to undo this spell."

"Do not worry, sweetheart. Of course there is." She had to admit, hearing Kol's words made her feel better. However, it still haven't changed her idea about how terrible of a person Elijah was to force them into such things.