This was going to be the beginning of Too Many Words but it didn't fit. However, I liked it too much to just discard it. Enjoy it, my darlings!


Sound the bugle now, play it just for me
As the seasons change, remember how I used to
Now I can't go on, I can't even start
I've got nothing left, just an empty heart.

- Sound the Bugle by Bryan Adams


Human. The word tasted like dirt on her tongue. Human. She gave a shudder. Human. Tears that hadn't been shed in five-hundred years pooled in her eyes. Dull, sullen eyes. Eyes that had once been on fire, vivid, intense, volatile. It was all gone now, replaced with monotones, with overcast weather, with worn edges. She had never thought it would come to this. No one could have. A month ago she would've scoffed if someone had told her this would be her fate, scoffed and ripped their heart out.

Now all she wanted to do was sob.

And she loathed herself for that weakness.

She glared at Elena Gilbert, who stood above her. This was all her fault. It didn't occur to Katherine that her actions, her scheming, her games was the cause of all of this. Elena had shoved the cure into her mouth. Elena had clamped shut her jaw. Elena had forced her to become what she detested most in the world. Human. She opened her mouth to hiss and snarl but a groan was all she could manage, a pained sound that echoed the ache in her limbs. Elena sneered, a sneer that was reminiscent of a person Katherine knew all too well.

"You remind me of someone," she managed to get out.

"Oh?" Elena arched an eyebrow, tone sarcastic and cold. "And who might that be?"

"Me."

The last thing she saw was the flash of white teeth, the glow of crimson eyes and it was like staring at her reflection. Then nothing. Her world faded into black.


So, that's it. I thought it was quite poignant, and it allowed me a subtle dig at the precious Elena. Sorry to all those who like her but she's beginning to irritate me.