This song is to In Loving Memory by Alter Bridge. Thanks to dancer101202303 for the suggestion.

I sat in the SUV with a load of other guardians. The Strigoi alarm had gone off at Lehigh, an hour away from the court, and we were battling the speed limit to get there. I was hoping that the reason no other guardians were answering their phones was because they were busy fighting them off. Suddenly, my phone buzzed.

"Who is it?" Hans asked. I glanced down and swelled with hope.

"Vasilisa," I told him. His eyes widened. The Moroi queen had been in a Strigoi attack. I put the phone to my ear.

"Janine?" she sobbed.

"Yes, Lissa, are you okay?"

"No, no, nobody's okay...oh God, how soon...when will you get here? You are coming, right?"

"Yes, of course, we're just a few minutes away."

"Oh, phew, because, well, I..."

"Where's everyone else?" Why wasn't Rose comforting her?

"She, well, she, oh God..." She trailed off and sobbed. My heart twisted in my chest. Please, God, I prayed, I know neither of us believe in you, but please, save my Rose. She's a good kid, really, and she's a brilliant guardian, she deserves a better life than this. As soon as we arrived at the college, we crept in cautiously, not knowing if there were still Strigoi there. The sight of the campus was awful. I stopped where I was and gasped.

Song starts here.

It was all empty, except for the main courtyard. Here, piles of bodies were everywhere. Strigoi, Moroi and guardian alike, all spread across the floor. Some of them were decapitated or had their throats ripped out. Some were leaking blood, and some had simply been staked. But there were no survivors. I searched blindly, but couldn't find who I was looking for. A hand touched my shoulder and I looked into Abe's brown eyes. Why was he here?

"We need to look for Vasilisa," he murmured. Yes, of course, we look for survivors. But the horror of the place was too much to stand, and I could see the haunted look in his eyes that was probably reflected in mine. We picked our way through the massacre, calling out for Lissa. The wind ruffled our hair and the bodies on the floor looked like they could still be alive. There was no reply to our pleas. Just blankness. We searched everywhere, and, suddenly, I heard a sob. I threw open the door of a cupboard to see a Moroi with platinum hair curled up in the corner with a tear-streaked face. Our Queen. Rose's best friend. Just a young Moroi girl. I scooped her up in my arms and she clung to me with her life, soaking the shirt on my shoulder.

"I've found her!" I called out to the other guardians.

Lissa POV

We crossed campus and I refused to let go of Janine. She was the closest thing I had to Rose, to life. The only living thing here. Except for the people she'd called out to. She stroked my hair softly and I wondered if she was pretending I was Rose. She set me down on the floor in an empty room where the guardians had met up. I was suddenly surrounded by people asking me questions.

"What was it like?"

"How did they get in?"

"Are you the only survivor?" I shook my head to all of them, only having one purpose. I mumbled something that nobody heard, and then realised that I needed to get my way. I thought like Rose.

"Let me see her!" I screeched. "Let me see Rose! My tears were forming rapidly and I wondered if I would ever run out of fluids. Probably not. Janine walked with me, holding my hand like I was a little kid. Rose was collapsed on the floor, eyes frozen wide open. They were filled with love, and would stay like that forever. It was a sweet gesture, yet struck me with sorrow. Her dark brown hair blew around and swept across the floor, the blood was slowly draining from her tanned skin and I could smell death on her. She had two tiny bite marks in her neck from where she shoved herself in front of me. Again. I was always the cause of her death. I wept. I couldn't stop. Janine sobbed silently and put an arm around me. I could imagine what she feeling right now. Next to her lay Dimitri, who had thrown himself in front of Christian. Oh, Christian. I stared at his expression, his eyes squeezed shut as he expected death. That heroic moment replayed in my head, when he'd tried to throw himself in front of me after Rose had. His jet black hair fell back and I couldn't see his blue eyes anymore. I wanted to bury myself in the icy depths of them. I wanted to lie there with him, to move to some better place than this hell hole. This awful place where evil was real. All I would need was a stake...No. I had to be strong. I was the Queen of the Moroi. I had a purpose. They would want me to go on. I looked over at Rose, who still gave me strength, even when she was dead. I put my arms around her and buried my face in her unmoving chest. She'd never truly abandoned me. Even when she went to Russia, I wasn't alone. She'd always been there for me. Always looking out for me. She'd trained to look after me, she risked her life for me. Over and over and over. The emotion was getting too much. I couldn't hold it in. I screamed.

"No, Rose!" It was like part of me had died, like all of me had died. With both Rose and Christian gone, I was helpless. It reminded me of the test I endured in the running for Queen, except much, much worse. And it was real. Rose was my best friend. Christian was my soul mate. I wouldn't be able to go without them, would I? Could I really move on? How? How would I manage it? My best friend! We'd been together, literally, through thick and thin. Through love and hate, joy and sorrow. I didn't know what I would do without that. Christian, the times we'd had. I would give anything to have his snarky face back again, just to hold him in my arms one last time. I needed his comforting, I needed his love. I needed Rose, who always knew what to do, and always made everything better, even with just a stupid joke. The guardians pulled me away and we drove back to the court, leaving my old life behind.

What did you think? I'm not brilliant at sad stories, so it may not be quite as depressing as I'd hoped. But, depressing is a really hard emotion to capture. There are no words...there are no words for that...so yeah, I'll stop my ramblings and continue with some other stuff. Hope you liked it