There is the man she loves and the man she hates. She wonders who he sees in his reflection. A man with a past he can't forget no matter how many bottles he drowns himself in. He punishes himself for things he hasn't done yet. He goes broke with his habits: the drinking and the gambling and the women, that look and don't look like her. He finds himself in a drab room with no furniture: the paint coming off the walls, a bare mattress on the floor.
She's lost count of how many times she's saved him and how many times she's killed him. The rubber soles of his boots screech to a halt on the cold stone pathway. He doesn't want to die. He doesn't want to lose her, again.
"Elizabeth, wait." He reaches out to touch the back of her arm, but she's too far in front of him.
Elizabeth turns around. Her lips are pursed and her arms are folded under her breasts. Her short uneven hair sways in the slight breeze. She raises an eyebrow at him, but he doesn't say anything else. He just looks at her.
She can't hate him. Not when he looks at her like that. He can hear the song he used to sing to her. He would hold her for hours just staring at her innocent face.
He never should have let her go.
There are hundreds of doors. She is old and in ruins. Together they watch Columbia burn. She dances to the bird's song in the gilded cage he built for her. There's a cigarette in her mouth and a miasma of alcohol hangs off her too tight clothes. She is covered in blood (it isn't hers). He pulls her to him, pressing kisses to her forehead and begging for forgiveness. He has dragged her into his world too many times. She's a part of it now. Apart of the bloodshed and the hurt and deep down, somewhere no mirror can reflect, she likes it. Guess she got that from him.
He feels as if he might fall into infinity. She is the only thing keeping him grounded. She takes his hand. She can feel his breath hitch at her touch. His expression softens and the tight line that is his mouth turns into a smile.
"Let's go." She says. He is the lamb and she is leading him to the slaughter.
He knows he'll see her again. Somehow that thought doesn't comfort him.